Japan has repeatedly asked the IWC to set an interim relief allocation (IRA) of 50 minke whales per year until the moratorium is lifted to mitigate at least in a small way the disasterous effect the moratorium is having on its coastal whaling communities. But the IWC has consistently refused--despite a 1993 resolution passed committing the IWC "to work expeditiously to alleviate the distress to the Japanese coastal whaling communities".