(from "Chairman's Report of the Thirty-Third Annual Meeting")

The Technical Committee endorsed three recommendations which were adopted by the Commission that:

1.

the Report of the Technical Committee Working Group on Development of Management Principles and Guidelines for Subsistence Catches of Whales by Indigenous (Aboriginal) Peoples be forwarded to Contracting Governments for comment by 31 January 1982;

2.

the Steering Committee of the Working Group be re-established to review such comments as are forwarded through the Secretariat;

3.

a decision should be made by correspondence between the members of the Steering Committee on whether it might be necessary to convene the full Working Group again in order to resolve any major problems should any arise. Otherwise the Steering Committee should prepare and forward the comments to the 34th Annual Meeting without the need for a further meeting.

12.2 Documentation of the utilisation of the meat and products of any whales taken for aboriginal/subsistence purposes
The Commission noted a document prepared by the USA outlining studies relating to Alaska Eskimo whaling which will be reported to the 34th Annual Meeting.

12.3 Bering Sea stock of bowhead whales
The Scientific Committee noted with great concern that the IWC quota for 1980 had been exceeded by eight strikes. It concluded that even if there is no kill the population may only be stable or even decreasing and reaffirmed its view of the last four years that to reduce the risk of extinction no catch should be taken. The Scientific Committee recommended, therefore, that the only safe course for the Commission is for the catch limit to be zero. The Scientific Committee recognised, however, that the Commission set last year a three-year quota for this stock and recommended that should the regime continue, removals should be of sexually immature animals to maximise reproduction in the short term, and that they should be taken in a manner which would reduce the struck and lost rate to zero.

In response to a question from the Netherlands as to the efficiency of the co-operative agreement with the Alaskan Eskimos, the USA commented that the arrangement appears to be quite satisfactory and could perhaps set an important precedent.

The UK stated that whilst the Commission should be free to judge the effects of measures taken by a Contracting Government in pursuance of obligations incurred through its membership of the Commission, it would be unwise to probe too closely into the domestic arrangements made by national authorities. Norway concurred with this view but stressed that the responsibilities of the United States in the matter under discussion should be in no way diminished.

The Technical Committee took note of the report of the Scientific Committee without endorsing any of its recommendations. In the Plenary Session, Sweden put forward a Resolution commending the Inupiat people on their efforts and urging them to restrict catches to immature whales with the minimum of loss. This was seconded by the Netherlands and Australia.

The USA, through a representative of the Alaskan Eskimo Whaling Commission, agreed to recommend these proposals to its whalers. The Netherlands noted the present catches and the progress that has been made in co-operation with the Eskimos, and looked forward to a reduction in the catches in the future to allow the stock to recover. It also asked for information on the impact of industrial development on the whales' habitat.

Australia, backed by Denmark, spoke of the genuine attempt by the aboriginal people and the US Government to resolve this very difficult issue, and Spain emphasized that the world is watching to see what is happening to the only really endangered species.

The Commission then unanimously adopted the Resolution (Appendix 4).

12.4 East Pacific stock of gray whales
The Scientific Committee recommended the continued classification of the stock as SMS with an unchanged catch limit. Jamaica welcomed the comments of the Scientific Committee and commended the USSR on its research effort relative to this stock. The Technical Committee recommended and the Commission approved by consensus that the stock be classified as SMS with a catch limit of 179 to be taken by aborigines or a Contracting Government on behalf of aborigines. The USSR and Mexico stated their intention to continue and expand their research efforts respectively.

12.5 West Greenland stock of humpback whales
The Scientific Committee had concluded that this stock is still substantially depleted and that present estimated removals are a significant proportion of the recruitment. It recommended, therefore, that:

1.

every effort be made to reduce the number of removals;

2.

the study of the problem of net entanglement should be continued;

3.

all humpback whale stocks should remain protected;

4.

all scientists with access to either live or dead humpback whales should be encouraged to attempt to obtain photographs of the colour pattern of the ventral surface of the tail flukes, and to exchange these photographs with other interested observers in the area. A catalogue of 1,000 tail fluke photographs is already available for the northwest Atlantic, and the comparison of photographs is proving a useful method of identifying individuals.

The Technical Committee unanimously endorsed these proposals, which were similarly approved by the Commission..

Denmark, in commending the Report of the Scientific Committee and seconding these proposals, stated that it could not support the other of the Scientific Committee's recommendations which was for the removal of the exemption allowing 10 humpbacks to be taken annually off Greenland. It drew attention to cultural traditions, the pattern of hunting in that area which required exploitation of what was available at the time and did not easily permit the substitution of other species, and the difficulties of communication leading to genuine problems with regulation of the hunt. Denmark is carrying out whale sighting cruises which it hoped would support the view expressed by hunters that humpback whales are more abundant than a few years ago.

The Netherlands, supported by the UK, felt that the situation is similar to the bowhead problem with a stock in grave danger and a clear recommendation from the Scientific Committee for a zero catch. It recalled consistent infractions over previous years and enquired what Denmark was doing to prevent this and to reduce the catch below 10.

Denmark stated that all this information was available in the Reports of the Infractions Sub-Committee and the Aboriginal/Subsistence Working Group. The Danish Government was concerned over the problem and had a system whereby every whale caught had to be reported immediately to the Government. It was confident that the allowable catch would not be exceeded this year.

The Technical Committee made no recommendation with respect to the removal of the humpback exemption, and the Commission took no further action.

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