7. REVISION OF PRESENT MANAGEMENT PROCEDURE

(from "Chairman's Report of the Thirty-Sixth Annuel Meeting")


7.1 Proposals for revised procedures developed through consultation between interested governments
Norway indicated that it believes there is a need to continue consideration of this subject. It indicated that no formal meeting had taken place and suggested that the Technical Committee should recommend further endorsement and continuation of discussions. This was agreed by the Technical Committee and accepted by the Commission.


12.2 Seychelles proposal
Seychelles introduced its proposal for consideration of general principles for classification of stocks and setting catch limits for commercial whaling. It put this forward as an interim revision of present management procedures, since the Scientific Committee now often recommends catch limits based on Replacement Yields of stocks rather than Sustainable Yields, as required in the management procedure. This is due to the uncertainty in determining the status of some stocks or their Maximum Sustainable Yields.

It proposed the formalization of current practice in socks which are unclassified. But since the Replacement Yield in a depleted stock is higher than the Sustainable Yield, safety factors should be applied.

Seychelles proposed a figure of a 50% safety factor, but with modifications and flexibility under certain circumstances.

The Chairman of the Scientific Committee indicated that, in principle, the Seychelles proposal tended to formalize present practices required to manage unclassified stocks. The Scientific Committee also agreed that the concept of Replacement Yields was a reasonable basis in such cases. However, the Scientific Committee noted certain problems in two specific areas: defining which stocks should be thus classified, and establishing appropriate safety factors. Whilst agreeing that, in principle, it was valid to apply a safety factor, there was no agreement in the Scientific Committee on its precise value.

Following a procedural discussion as to whether the Seychelles proposal had been submitted in due time, it was agreed to discuss the general concept in the Technical Committee.

Suggested language provided by Antigua and Barbuda and the Seychelles was discussed and after the addition of a paragraph from the Report of the Scientific Committee suggested by Norway, the following wording was adopted by the Technical Committee (the USSR expressing its reservation) and accepted by the Commission:

The Commission noted the comments of the Scientific Committee in paragraph 8.5 of its Report and
(1) agrees in principle that it is scientifically valid to apply safety factors which take into account uncertainties and errors in stock assessments; and
(2) calls upon the Scientific Committee, in making recommendations regarding catch limits for unclassified stocks, to apply safety factors which are no less than those which are applicable to species classified under Schedule paragraph 10 a & b.
The Technical Committee and the Commission also agreed that circumstances on a stock-by-stock basis did indeed dictate the need for a flexible approach in applying safety factors.

_