After extensive further discussions, the members adopted by 
a vote of 16 in favor, 3 opposed, and 5 abstentions a total 
quota for the three years 1981 through 1983 of 45 whales 
landed or 65 struck, whichever comes first, provided that 
the number of whales landed in any one of those three years 
shall not exceed 17. This decision allows the United States 
to allocate the number of whales to be taken each year, 
subject to the annual limit of 17, while attempting to 
strike an equitable balance between protection of the endangered 
bowhead whale population and Alaskan Eskimo needs during the 
interim period needed to address and resolve the difficult 
problems associated with the bowhead whale issue. 
Judicial Action 
During the course of domestic and international negotiations 
and efforts to implement the decisions of the IWC, the 
bowhead whale issue has also been the subject of litigation 
in the federal courts. 
On 21 October 1977, the day after the United States 
government announced its decision to accept the IWC's decision 
establishing a zero quota for bowhead whales while seeking 
approval for a limited quota for the spring 1978 hunt, 
representatives of Eskimo whalers filed suit in the U.S. 
District Court for the District of Columbia in an attempt to 
obtain a preliminary injunction requiring the Secretary of 
State to file an objection to the Schedule change and the 
District Court issued such an order on 21 October 1977. The 
government appealed the order to the U.S. Court of Appeals 
for the District of Columbia which vacated the order on 22 
October 1977 because of its findings that filing an objection 
would prejudice on-going policies and efforts by the United 
States and that the government had not acted contrary to law 
(Adamsiv.. Vance, 570 F. 2d 950. (D.C. Cir. 1977))..- The 
Eskimos' request to reverse the decision of the Court of 
Appeals was denied by Supreme Court Justice Burger on 24 
October 1977, no objection was filed, and that lawsuit was 
dismissed on 10 December 1977. 
Following the June 1978 meeting of the IWC at which the 
quota for 1978 was raised from 12 landed or 18 struck to 14 
landed or 20 struck and the quota for 1979 was set at 18 
landed or 27 struck, representatives of Alaskan Eskimo 
whalers filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District 
of Alaska to enjoin enforcement of the bowhead whaling 
regulations promulgated by the National Marine Fisheries 
Service to implement the IWC's decision. The plantiff 
Eskimos alleged, among other things, that the federal regulations 
implementing the IWC's Schedule were not valid because the 
Iwc had no jurisdiction over subsistence whaling and that 
