14. SECOND INTERNATIONAL DECADE OF CETACEAN RESEARCH

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


14.1 Report of the Scientific Committee
The only project sponsored by the Commission last year was the Southern Hemisphere minke whale assessment cruise. New proposals from the Scientific Committee and unsolicited proposals were reviewed and put in priority order for consideration of funding by the Finance and Administration Committee.


14.2 FAO/UNEP Global Plan of Action for Marine Mammals
The Scientific Committee received the report of the Secretary who had attended a Consultative Meeting to review the ongoing activities of the Global Plan. The administrative organisation within UNEP for the Plan has been changed, and the UNEP observer to the Scientific Committee indicated that large whale projects should be implemented by the IWC in a second IDCR as a contribution to achieve the goals of the Plan.

The Scientific Committee recognised that any research on large cetaceans will need to be initiated and funded by the IWC, and recommended the Commission to encourage Contracting Governments to support specific activities. Because of the need to maintain close contact with UNEP in coordinating these activities the Scientific Committee also recommended that the Secretary should attend the next Consultative Meeting in October 1985.

Australia emphasised the opportunity for members to contribute money to the IWC Research Fund for specific projects, and the Commission, on the recommendation of the Technical Committee, urged that Contracting Governments should be encouraged to use this ability, and also endorsed the two recommendations from the Scientific Committee. The Chairman of the Finance and Administration Committee indicated that an allocation had been made for attendance at the Consultative Meeting.

The USSR spoke of the importance of scientific research in the Antarctic at this time in the Commission's affairs, and stated that it is ready to provide a vessel again this year for the minke whale sightings programme. Foreign scientists will be accepted on board.

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