s, the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) was adopted by the League of Nations. The ICRW called for such a working committee, and thus the International Whaling Commission (IWC) was created. ICRW was intended to safeguard and regulate whale stocks for future generations, and also to ensure the orderly development of the growing whaling industry. The only catch (pardon the pun) is that the ICWR made it possible for any country to exempt itself from the IWC's rules by simply filing a formal protest and abstaining from voting on referendums brought up at the yearly meetings of the IWC. To no ones surprise, after approving the ICRW, Norway immediately filed a formal complaint and abstained from every vote the IWC held; thereby exempti "But the matter of substance is, what is the point of having a scientific committee if it's unanimous recommendations on a matter of primary importance are treated with such contempt?" Hammond was expressing his frustration and anger with Norway for exempting themselves from the ICRW, and with the IWC for being powerless to enforce any of it's own rulings. Norway went ahead with its plan to whale that year and took 226 whales and an additional 69 for research. In 1993 the catch totaled 369 animals with an unknown number (either additional or included) take...
