MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION — Annual Report for 1992 
noted, for example, that under certain circumstances 
the recommended procedure might inadvertently allow 
taking of stocks below the full protection level (i.e., 
below 54 percent of the pre-exploitation or carrying 
capacity level), and that certain minimum data and 
survey standards may be necessary in order to be 
confident that the calculated allowable catch levels are 
appropriate to meet the management objectives. The 
IWC therefore requested that the Scientific Committee 
“consider and provide further advice on the minimum 
standards for data, including coverage and methodolo- 
gy for sighting surveys, analytical techniques and 
acceptable levels of precision.” 
In response to this request, the IWC Scientific 
Committee held a special meeting in Copenhagen, 
Denmark, on 2-6 March 1992. To help prepare for 
the meeting, a workshop was held on 24-29 February 
1992 to further assess aspects of the recommended 
procedure for estimating single-stock catch limits. 
Regarding the possibility that taking might inadver- 
tently be permitted from stocks that should be fully 
protected, the Scientific Committee conducted addi- 
tional computer simulations. Based on its findings, it 
concluded that, while there was a high probability of 
allowing taking from depleted stocks if the growth 
rate is low, the catches allowed would be so small that 
they would have little effect on the population’s recov- 
ery rate. 
With respect to data requirements, the IWC Scien- 
tific Committee noted that the recommended proce- 
dure for estimating allowable catch levels requires 
only two data inputs — an absolute abundance esti- 
mate and an accurate record of past catches. The 
Scientific Committee noted that the procedure also 
includes rules that first reduce catch if the abundance 
estimate has a high coefficient of variation and second 
begin to phase out catches when a specified time has 
passed without a new population survey. With respect 
to the last point, the Scientific Committee noted it had 
been unable to agree on an appropriate time interval. 
Formation of the North Atlantic Marine Mam- 
mal Commission — At the 1991 IWC meeting, the 
Icelandic Commissioner expressed frustration at the 
IWC’s failure to finalize an agreed management 
procedure and to authorize the take of minke whales 
in the North Atlantic Ocean. He indicated that he 
120 
would propose to his Government that Iceland with- 
draw from the International Whaling Convention. By 
letter of 27 December 1991, the Government of 
Iceland notified the United States, in its role as 
depositary government for the Convention, that it 
intended to withdraw from the Convention, effective 
30 June 1992. Subsequently, the Governments of 
Iceland, Greenland, Norway, and the Faroe Islands 
entered into an “Agreement on Research, Conserva- 
tion and Management of Marine Mammals in the 
North Atlantic.” 
The Agreement, which was signed by the fisheries 
ministers from each government in April and entered 
into force in July 1992, established an international 
organization, the North Atlantic Marine Mammal 
Commission. The objective of the Commission, as set 
forth in Article II of the Agreement, is to “contribute 
through regional consultation and cooperation to the 
conservation, rational management and study of 
marine mammals [seals and small cetaceans, as well 
as whales] in the North Atlantic.” The Commission 
includes a governing council, management commit- 
tees, a scientific committee, and a secretariat. The 
first meeting of the Governing Council was held on 
10-11 September 1992. At the meeting, the Council 
agreed to continue relations with the International 
Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and the 
IWC and to seek reciprocal observer status with these 
and other relevant fisheries organizations. Canada 
and Russia were invited to join the Commission as 
members. One intent clearly is to bring pressure on 
the IWC to authorize resumption of commercial 
whaling and, failing this, to establish a new and 
independent organization of like-minded countries to 
govern exploitation of marine mammals, including 
whales, in the North Atlantic. 
At the September meeting, the Governing Council 
also requested that the International Council for the 
Exploration of the Seas conduct a review of the status 
of the long-finned pilot whale in the North Atlantic 
Ocean. This species is the subject of a controversial 
drive fishery in the Faroe Islands and is caught 
incidentally in a number of fisheries in the North 
Atlantic. ICES has agreed to conduct the review. 
House Concurrent Resolution 177 — On 19 May 
1992, the U.S. House of Representatives adopted a 
