MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION — Annual Report for 1992 
other pertinent agreements as well as some treaties 
and agreements that are no longer in force but which 
are historically significant. Similarly, certain multilat- 
eral treaties and agreements to which the United States 
is not a party will also be included because of their 
overall importance. Current amendments and proto- 
cols to treaties and agreements will be included as 
well, 
Texts of many of the treaties and agreements have 
been provided to the Commission by a number of 
Federal agencies, including the Department of State’s 
Office of Treaty Affairs and Bureau of Oceans and 
International Environmental and Scientific Affairs; the 
National Marine Fisheries Service; the Library of 
Congress; the Fish and Wildlife Service; the Interna- 
tional Trade Commission; and the Environmental 
Protection Agency. Other documents have been 
provided by international organizations, including the 
United Nations Environment Program; the United 
Nations Treaty and Legal Offices; the Food and 
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; the 
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission; and 
the International Maritime Organization. The Ameri- 
can Society of International Law has provided a 
number of multilateral documents to which the United 
States is not a party, and secretariats for several 
multilateral agreements contributed copies of their 
documents as well. 
The compendium will be divided into two sections: 
(1) multilateral treaties and agreements and (2) bilater- 
al agreements involving the United States. Subject 
areas include Antarctic research and conservation; 
general environmental and natural resource conserva- 
tion and management; fisheries; marine mammals; 
marine pollution; marine science and exploration; and 
other related topics, such as trade and arms control. 
The compendium’s bilateral section will include U.S. 
agreements with 30 other nations. In all, more than 
100 multilateral treaties and agreements and more than 
75 bilateral agreements will be included. With the 
inclusion of amendments and protocols, the compendi- 
um will contain more than 375 documents. 
In addition to the texts of the treaties, agreements, 
and their amendments and protocols, the compendium 
will identify basic background data for each docu- 
ment, including the city in which the original text was 
118 
signed, the date of its adoption, the date of its entry 
into force, the signatory nation or intergovernmental 
organization designated as its depositary, and primary 
source citations. 
Final modifications to the compendium were begun 
in October 1992 and will continue through January 
1993. The final text is expected to be completed by 
mid-March; the compendium will be published by the 
Government Printing Office shortly thereafter. 
Support for this project has been provided primar- 
ily by the Department of State’s Bureau of Oceans and 
International Scientific and Environmental Affairs. 
Support was also received from the National Marine 
Fisheries Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service. 
International Whaling Commission 
During 1992 the Marine Mammal Commission, in 
consultation with its Committee of Scientific Advisors, 
continued to review and to provide advice to the U.S. 
Commissioner to the International Whaling Commis- 
sion (IWC) on measures necessary to ensure that 
commercial whaling, should it be resumed, not cause 
any whale stock to be reduced or maintained below its 
optimum sustainable level. Representatives of the 
Marine Mammal Commission and its Committee of 
Scientific Advisors participated in meetings of the 
IWC and its Scientific Committee and worked with 
the U.S. Commissioner to the IWC, the Department 
of State, and others to identify and undertake needed 
assessments and other actions. Such activities taking 
place before, during, and after the 1992 annual 
meeting of the IWC are discussed below. 
Preparation for the 1992 IWC Meeting 
As noted in its previous report, the Marine Mam- 
mal Commission, in consultation with its Committee 
of Scientific Advisors, undertook a comprehensive 
review of the International Whaling Convention and 
the IWC’s conservation program in 1991. The results 
of that review were conveyed by letter of 5 December 
1991 to the U.S. Commissioner to the IWC. In the 
letter the Commission noted that the IWC was at a 
critical stage in its history and that, while cetacean 
