15. SMALL CETACEANS

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


There was extensive discussion of the Commission's competence to regulate the small cetaceans and on the view developed two years ago, that the Scientific Committee could discuss proposed research for small cetaceans.

Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Spain, Brazil, Japan, USSR, Peru, and Costa Rica all recorded their reservations on the Commission's competence in relation to small cetaceans and within coastal waters.

The Commission then agreed to note the Scientific Committee's recommendations concerning:

Stenella species in the eastern tropical Pacific; Stenella coeruleoalba in the western North Pacific; white whales and Narwhals; killer whales; Dall's porpoise; and incidental takes.
It was also noted that the small cetaceans sub-committee will concentrate next year on Phocoenids, including those taken incidentally, on Cephalorhynchus spp. and on populations of small cetaceans involved in live-capture fisheries. Member countries were urged to bring relevant information and analyses to next year's meeting.

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