WHEREAS there is no agreement on the competence of the Commission in the management of small cetaceans, and
WHEREAS, nevertheless, information on small cetaceans is supplied to the Scientific Committee by certain Member States with respect to the situation in those States, and
WHEREAS work on small cetaceans is done by the Scientific Committee, and
WHEREAS resolutions on small cetaceans are presented to the Commission, and
WHEREAS the governments of St Vincent and The Grenadines, St Lucia, Dominica and Grenada belong to the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, which administers laws regulating fisheries and related research in the territorial seas and Exclusive Economic Zones of its Member States, and
WHEREAS these laws prohibit fisheries research in these territorial seas and Exclusive Economic Zones without permission of the countries concerned, and
WHEREAS these Caribbean governments do not accept the competence of the Commission in the management of small cetaceans and related research, and
WHEREAS these governments may not therefore permit IWC research on small cetaceans in their territorial seas and Exclusive Economic Zones, and
WHEREAS these governments will not therefore accept resolutions of the Commission relative to small cetaceans in their territorial seas and Exclusive Economic Zones,
BE IT RESOLVED that the Commission note the position of the above-mentioned Caribbean countries with respect to IWC work on small cetaceans in their territorial seas and Exclusive Economic Zones, which their governments consider to be their sovereign right