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

8.1.1 Infractions reports from Contracting Governments
A summary of infractions reported from aboriginal subsistence whaling operations showed there were no infractions. No commercial whaling took place in 1990. The Sub-committee noted a report from Norway concerning the incidental take of two minke whales by two trawlers in separate incidents. The incidents had been reported in detail to Norwegian authorities. The Sub-committee recognised that these did not constitute infractions.

8.1.2 Other matters
Peru
Last year, the Sub-committee had again recommended that Peru submit its outstanding 1984 infractions report. The Secretariat had received no response from Peru to its letter requesting the report. The Sub-committee again recommended that Peru be urged to submit this report.

USA, 1989
The USA provided further details to those given last year concerning the take, during the spring of 1989, of two minke whales in unrelated incidents by two different subsistence whalers from the village of Gambell. Ice and weather conditions were severe during the spring of 1989 and subsistence resources were scarce. None of the nine bowhead whale strikes had been made by Gambell whalers. One minke whale had been taken by a whaler who was unaware that hunting minke whales was prohibited. The other was taken by a hunter who had believed the animal to be sick. The Sub-committee noted that the AEWC had fined both captains and had informed the captains of all whaling boats that minke whales could not be taken.

Faroe Islands, 1989
Denmark reported the results of the police inquiry into an incident involving two bottlenose whales in September 1989. The inquiry had found no evidence that the animals had not stranded naturally.

Surveillance of whaling operations
The only information on the infractions reporting forms concerning the surveillance of whaling operations was for the USA, who reported that 90% of the catch was under direct inspection by national programmes. Information on the system in Greenland was given and the Sub-committee welcomed the information and expressed its appreciation of the effort that had been made to improve the monitoring system, noting that there had been no quota overrun in the catches of minke and fin whales in the 1990 season.

Checklist of information required or requested under Section VI of the Schedule
The available information from Denmark (Greenland) and the USA was reviewed.

Submission of national laws and regulations
The Secretariat provided a tabulation of the national legislation received by the Commission. The Sub-committee noted that this lengthy tabulation presented each year has usually only minor changes (if any) from previous years. It recommended that the Secretariat continue to collect and archive information on national legislation, but that in the future only a summary sheet and reports of new legislation received during the year be circulated to the Sub-committee.

8.2 Action arising
The UK asked for the report of the enquiry on a humpback whale taken in the Maniitsoq municipality of West Greenland to be submitted to the IWC when finalised. The UK appreciated the load enforcement placed on governments but said that it was important that enforcement of the regulations is clearly seen to be imposed and monitored. It appreciated that there had been no over-run of quotas in West Greenland in the last year and thanked the governments for their continuing work. Denmark confirmed that it will report on the incident when police investigation has been completed.

The Technical Committee and the Commission adopted the report and endorsed its recommendations.

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