(from "Chairman's Report of the Forty-Second Meeting")

The Convention was established to manage the whaling operations at a time of relative abundance of stocks. The whale stocks are now more endangered, and there had been a consequent change in world public opinion. The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties allows a party to invoke a fundamental change of circumstances as a ground for terminating, suspending or withdrawing from a Treaty. There is a new impetus in research in which the IWC is called to play a central role of harmonisation, and there have been important changes in internation legal order at sea. All these developments should be reflected in the Convention, and the USSR cannot agree to a broader interpretation of the 1946 provisions beyond the original intentions.

It proposed that:

(1)

the issue of the Operation of the Convention be included as an item on the agenda of the Commission's 43rd Annual meeting;

(2)

the invitation to Contracting Governments to comment on the questions developed by the Working Group in 1988 in Auckland be extended, and that any such written comments be submitted before the next Annual Meeting;

(3)

the Working Group be convened during a week prior to the 43rd Annual Meeting of the Commission in order to consider written contributions of Contracting Governments and prepare recommendations to the Commission on the action arising;

(4)

a draft Resolution submitted by the USSR be held over for consideration at the 43rd Annual Meeting.

Norway recognised a need for the Commission to look at how it works at two levels - how it operates in practice in achieving its own priorities and programmes; and secondly, as the USSR had suggested, whether the Convention reflects what it is actually doing, operating as a study society for whales. It saw the comprehensive assessment programme and the development of management procedures in that context, but also spoke of the need for the Commission to deal with the issues through a multi-species and broad ecological view, rather than with the existing single species approach.

The USA agreed that consideration of the Resolution should be deferred to next year's meeting in which it would participate, but it had some doubt about the benefit of future meetings.

Mexico endorsed the USSR proposal, commenting on the change in emphases resulting in the adoption of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and a new scheme for the administration of fisheries resources.

Japan also supported the USSR, pointing out the three objectives of the Convention - the conservation of the whale stocks, their rational utilisation, and the orderly development of the whaling industry. It believed that there is now little consideration of the latter two. The Commission is extending its involvement into small cetaceans and other whaling activities, and the Convention should be consistent with these tasks.

Spain expressed its view that the goals of the Convention, its scope and the management of whaling are sufficiently well defined that modification of the Convention is not so urgent. Nevertheless, it considered a meeting of the Working Group appropriate to continue and make progress on these important discussions.

The UK shared the views of Spain. It noted that the balance between the objectives of the Convention as stated by Japan has changed over the years. It identified the questions of competence with respect to species, management procedures, scientific arrangements including multi-species aspects, gear and humaneness, and the Commission's own procedures, as issues which could be addressed by a Working Group. It believed that the lack of response to the long list of questions posed two years ago was due to the amount of explanation they required, and it might be better to use them as a list of headings for further discussions.

Brazil agreed to the reconvening of the Working Group next year if time permitted to discuss and conclude if the Convention should be reviewed. Iceland associated itself with the views expressed by Norway and Japan and would participate in the Working Group. Australia noted that the major effort next year should be directed to the management procedures and further steps in the Comprehensive Assessment, and proposals to revise the Convention should not interfere with those tasks.

The Commission then accepted the four proposals put forward by the USSR.

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