The concept of the Revised Management Scheme (RMS) first emerged in 1992. This was at a time when the scientific work, as required by the 1982 moratorium decision (1), were about to be finalised. This scientific exercise became known as the Revised Management Procedure (RMP), a procedure for calculating abundance estimates for whale stocks and catch quotas. In 1993, the Scientific Committee unanimously recommended the IWC to adopt the RMP. However, the Commission chose not to, consequently bringing about the resignation of the Scientific Committee Chair in protest.

The RMS is to consist of two major elements: one being the Revised Management Procedure (RMP) and the other being procedures for supervision, control, monitoring, inspection, enforcement, etc. The IWC majority says that the RMS must be in place before the IWC can resume its management tasks, i.e. lifting the moratorium and setting commercial catch quotas.

RMS Meetings 1993-2006

10-12 May, 1993
Informal working group on the Revised Management Scheme, Kyoto, Japan (2)

10-14 May, 1993
IWC Plenary sessions, 45^th Annual Meeting, Kyoto, Japan (3)

24-26 May, 1994
Working group on the Revised Management Scheme, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (4)

23-27 May, 1994
IWC Plenary sessions, 46^th Annual Meeting, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

10-13 January, 1995
Intersessional Working Group on the Revised Management Scheme, Reine i Lofoten, Norway (5)

22 May, 1995
Working Group on the Revised Management Scheme, Dublin, Ireland (6)

29 May-2 June, 1995
IWC Plenary sessions, 47^th Annual Meeting, Dublin, Ireland

19 June, 1996
Working Group on the Revised Management Scheme, Aberdeen, Scotland (7)

24-28 June, 1996
IWC Plenary sessions, 48^th Annual Meeting, Aberdeen, Scotland (8)

27-28 January, 1997
Intersessional Commissioners’ Meeting on the RMS, Grenada

17 October, 1997
Working Group on the Revised Management Scheme, Monaco

 20-24 October, 1997
IWC Plenary sessions, 49^th Annual Meeting, Monaco

3-5 February, 1998
Intersessional Commissioners’ Meeting on the RMS, Antigua

12 May, 1998
Working Group on the Revised Management Scheme, Muscat, Oman

16-20 May, 1998
IWC Plenary sessions, 50^th Annual Meeting, Muscat, Oman

20 May, 1999
Working Group on the Revised Management Scheme, St George’s, Grenada

24-28 May, 1999
IWC Plenary sessions, 51st Annual Meeting, St George’s, Grenada

 28-29 June, 2000
Working Group on the Revised Management Scheme, Adelaide, Australia

3-6 July, 2000
IWC Plenary sessions, 52nd Annual Meeting, Adelaide, Australia

6-8 February, 2001
Intersessional Working Group on the Revised Management Scheme, Monaco

18-19 July, 2001
Working Group on the Revised Management Scheme, London, United Kingdom

23-27 July, 2001
IWC Plenary sessions, 53^rd Annual Meeting, London, United Kingdom (9)

29 October-1 November, 2001
Intersessional Meeting of RMS Expert Drafting Group, Cambridge, United Kingdom

26 February-1 March, 2002
Intersessional Meeting of RMS Expert Drafting Group, Auckland, New Zealand

 13 and 15 May 2002
Working Group on the Revised Management Scheme, Shimonoseki, Japan

20-24 May, 2002
IWC Plenary sessions, 54^th Annual Meeting, Shimonoseki, Japan

15-17 October, 2002
Intersessional Commissioners’ Meeting on the Revised Management Scheme, Cambridge, United Kingdom (10)

28-30 April, 2003
Intersessional Meeting of Special RMS Working group on Catch verification, Antigua

 1-3 May, 2003
Intersessional Meeting of Special RMS Working group on Costs, Antigua

12-13 June, 2003
Private Commissioners meeting on the RMS, Berlin, Germany

16-19 June, 2003
IWC Plenary sessions, 55^th Annual Meeting, Berlin, Germany (11)

9-10 December, 2003
Intersessional Meeting of Chair’s Small Group on the RMS, Cambridge, United Kingdom

10-12 March, 2004
Intersessional Meeting of Chair’s Small Group on the RMS, Cambridge, United Kingdom

15 July, 2004
Chair’s Small Group Meeting on the RMS, Sorrento, Italy

16 July, 2004
Private Commissioners’ Meeting on the RMS, Sorrento, Italy

19-22 July, 2004
IWC Plenary sessions, 56^th Annual Meeting, Sorrento, Italy (12)

29 November-1 December, 2004
Intersessional Working Group on the Revised Management Scheme, Borgholm, Sweden

1-3 December, 2004
Intersessional Meeting of RMS Small Drafting Group, Borgholm, Sweden

 7-9 March, 2005
Intersessional Meeting of the RMS Specialist Group on the DNA Register/Market Sampling Scheme Approach, La Jolla, California, USA

30 March-1 April, 2005
Intersessional Working Group on the Revised Management Scheme, Copenhagen, Denmark

2-3 April, 2005
Intersessional Meeting of RMS Small Drafting Group, Copenhagen, Denmark

15-16 June, 2005
Working Group on the Revised Management Scheme, Ulsan, Korea

 20-24 June, 2005
IWC Plenary sessions, 57^th Annual Meeting, Ulsan, Korea

28 February-2 March 2006
Working Group on the Revised Management Scheme, Cambridge, UK

10-11 June 2006
Working Group on the Revised Management Scheme, St. Kitts and Nevis

16-20 June 2006
IWC Plenary sessions, 58^th Annual Meeting, St. Kitts and Nevis

Footnotes:

1. Wording of the decision, §10.e to the IWC Schedule: “Notwithstanding the other provisions of paragraph 10, catch limits for the killing for commercial purposes of whales from all stocks for the 1986 coastal and the 1985/86 pelagic seasons and thereafter shall be zero. This provision will be kept under review, based upon the best scientific advice, and by 1990 at the latest the Commission will undertake a comprehensive assessment of the effects of this decision on whale stocks and consider modification of this provision and the establishment of other catch limits.” Iceland, Norway and Russia are exempted from the moratorium as they hold objections to it. Japan and Peru originally lodged objections, but have since withdrawn them.

2. In IWC-documents referred to as “Informal working group on inspection and observation”, objective was to address outstanding issues in 1992 resolution on The Revised Management Scheme.

3. RMS discussed in the plenary sessions of all subsequent Annual Meetings of the IWC.

4. In IWC-documents referred to as “Working group on inspection and observation”, objective was to address outstanding issues in 1992 resolution on The Revised Management Scheme.

5. In IWC-documents referred to as “Intersessional working group on inspection and observation”, objective was to address outstanding issues in 1994 resolution on The Revised Management Scheme.

6. In IWC-documents referred to as “Working group on inspection and observation”, objective was to address outstanding issues in 1994 resolution on The Revised Management Scheme.

7. In IWC-documents referred to as “Working group on inspection and observation”, objective was to address outstanding issues in 1994 resolution on The Revised Management Scheme.

8. Decision to merge Working group on supervision and control with Working group on Abundance, Surveys and Implementation of the Revised Management Scheme.

9. Decision to establish RMS Expert Drafting Group.

10. It was decided to establish three special working groups on the RMS; one on costs, one on catch verification and one on compliance.

11. The Commission agreed to allow the Chair, Henrik Fischer (Denmark), to convene a Chair’s Small Group, also known as “Friends of the Chair”, to explore ways and possibilities to take the RMS process forward.

12. The Commission agreed to establish RMS Small Drafting Group under the RMS Working Group (replacing The Chair’s Small Group).