NOAA 96-r194
Contact: Scott Smullen FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
12/18/96
In a letter to President Clinton, Commerce Secretary Mickey Kantor certified Canada under the Pelly Amendment for allowing its Inuit to take two bowhead whales this year in the Canadian arctic. Canada's actions of allowing two endangered bowhead whales to be killed this year, including one from a highly endangered stock in the eastern Canadian arctic, have raised concern over this risk to whaling conservation efforts.
The United States supports aboriginal whaling when it is managed through the International Whaling Commission, the global body charged with responsibility for the international conservation and management of whale stocks and the regulation of whaling. Canada is not currently a member of the IWC, withdrawing in 1982 and stating at the time that it no longer had any direct interest in the whaling industry or in the related activities of the IWC'.
Under the Pelly Amendment to the Fishermen's Protective Act of 1967, the Secretary of Commerce is required to certify to the President when nationals of another country are undermining the effectiveness of an international conservation regime, such as the IWC.
The Pelly certification authorizes the President to use his discretion to prohibit the importation of some or all Canadian products. If the President decides not to prohibit the importation of Canadian products, he must inform Congress of his reasons within 60 days. (Feb.9, 1997)
Two bowhead whales, listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, were killed in Canada this summer in hunts allowed by the Canadian Government. One whale was taken on August 17 in the eastern Canadian Arctic from a population that may number as few as 450 animals, and another was taken from the western Canadian Arctic on July 24. Neither hunt was authorized by the IWC, which had expressed particular concern about whaling in the eastern Canadian arctic, where bowhead stocks are not known to be recovering.