RECALLING that the Commission agreed that one of the remaining elements of RMS to be completed consists of ‘arrangements to ensure that total catches over time are within limits set under the RMS’ (IWC Resolution 1996-6); CONSIDERING that bycatches can substantially contribute to the total catches over time and therefore need to be recorded; NOTING that not all Contracting Parties are submitting Annual Progress Reports to the Scientific Committee, and that some reports that are submitted do not include bycatch statistics; AWARE that at its 49th Annual Meeting, the Commission received valuable information on the bycatch of many species of cetaceans by members of the Commission; NOW THEREFORE the Commission; CALLS upon all Contracting Parties to improve their monitoring and reporting of all cetaceans, especially large whales, taken incidentally in all fishing operations, and to report those incidental catches to the 50th Annual Meeting of the IWC and at all future meetings; URGES all Contracting Parties to exchange information about bycatch reduction efforts and release of live cetaceans.