Chapter IV — International 



subsistence whaling. The IWC did, however, take 

 note of the results of an assessment by the Scientific 

 Committee that indicated that the stock of bowhead 

 whales hunted by Alaska Natives is near its maximum 

 sustainable yield level and would probably continue to 

 increase even if catch levels were increased to 108 

 whales per year. 



The Scientific Committee also reported on efforts, 

 begun in 1995, to develop a new aboriginal subsis- 

 tence whaling management scheme. Although there 

 was general agreement that it was preferable to use a 

 single algorithm for setting catch limits, given the 

 diversity of situations, it was unlikely that a single, 

 generic process could be developed. The Scientific 

 Coinmittee is expected to continue its work on the 

 subsistence whaling scheme and report on its progress 

 at the IWC's 1999 meeting. 



As discussed in the bowhead whale section of 

 Chapter II, the government of Canada, as it had in 

 previous years, authorized the take of bowhead whales 

 from two stocks, including the highly endangered 

 Davis Strait/Hudson Bay stock(s). This prompted the 

 IWC to adopt a resolution at its 1998 meeting calling 

 on Canada to refrain from issuing licenses for whaling 

 not conducted in accordance with the International 

 Convention for the Regulation of Whaling and inviting 

 Canada to rejoin the IWC. A similar resolution was 

 adopted at the 1997 meeting. 



Research Whaling — The International Conven- 

 tion for the Regulation of Whaling allows member 

 nations to issue permits to its citizens to kill whales 

 for scientific research purposes, provided that research 

 plans are submitted to the IWC's Scientific Committee 

 for review and comment before the permits are 

 issued. Since 1988 Japan has issued permits for 

 research whaling. The value of this research has been 

 much debated, and the IWC has adopted a series of 

 non-binding resolutions calling on Japan to refrain 

 from issuing permits authorizing lethal research. 



During its 1998 meeting the IWC again considered 

 Japan's proposals to continue two research programs 

 involving the killing of whales. One involves the 

 catch of up to 440 minke whales in the Southern 

 Hemisphere and the other involves the catch of 100 

 minke whales in the western North Pacific. As in 



past years, the IWC adopted a resolution noting that 

 the proposed research does not address critically 

 important research needs and calling on Japan to 

 refrain from issuing permits authorizing the lethal 

 research. The resolution also directed the Scientific 

 Committee to continue to identify non-lethal alterna- 

 tives for meeting Japan's research objectives. The 

 IWC also expressed concern that whale meat resulting 

 from Japan's research program was being sold in 

 commercial markets despite the moratorium on 

 commercial whaling. 



Assessments of Whale Stocks — As part of the 

 comprehensive assessment of whale stocks called for 

 under the moratorium on commercial whaling, the 

 IWC's Scientific Committee has for the past several 

 years focused attention on assessing the status of 

 various stocks. As discussed above, the Scientific 

 Committee conducted a comprehensive assessment of 

 right whales in 1998. The Scientific Committee also 

 took actions during 1998 with respect to assessing the 

 stocks of humpback whales, minke whales, Bryde's 

 whales, and sperm whales. 



Before the IWC's 1999 annual meeting the Scien- 

 tific Committee plans to focus its efforts on reviewing 

 (1) Japanese research data on Southern Hemisphere 

 minke whales, (2) abundance estimates for Southern 

 Hemisphere blue whales and methods used to differen- 

 tiate blue whale subspecies, (3) recent population 

 trends of the western North Atlantic stock of right 

 whales, and (4) intersessional work on a preliminary 

 assessment of Southern Hemisphere humpback 

 whales. 



Environmental Effects — For more than a decade, 

 the IWC has expressed concern about the potential 

 effects of habitat degradation on whales. At its 1992 

 meeting the IWC asked its Scientific Committee to 

 consider the impact of environmental changes on 

 whale stocks on a regular basis. Since then, the IWC 

 has sponsored workshops to examine the effects of 

 chemical pollution and climate change on cetaceans. 



At its meeting in Oman, the IWC adopted a further 

 resolution directing the Scientific Committee to give 

 high priority to implementing research planned to 

 investigate climate/environmental change, ozone 

 depletion and UV-B radiation, chemical pollution, 



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