To fulfill Barack Obama's campaign promise to protect whales, the administration has used the bully pulpit -- and an iPhone app.

Our most recent update on the promise to "strengthen the international moratorium on commercial whaling" was rated In the Works. We are revisiting the promise to see if Obama has made further progress in protecting whales.

We find a mixed record.

The promise specifically deemed Japan's whaling activities "unacceptable." While the 1986 Whaling Moratorium banned all international commercial whaling, loopholes within the moratorium allow limited whaling for "scientific research." And Japan has continued to use these loopholes to get around the moratorium, but claims that it is not violating the rules.

The United States, through the State Department, has continued to emphasize the international moratorium to Japan. So Obama has followed through on that portion of the promise.

In our last update, we also mentioned that Obama had been notified by then-Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke about whaling occurring in Iceland that undermined the international whaling moratorium. The Obama administration, however, has not used a provision known as the Pelly Amendment to impose economic sanctions against Iceland.

Locke's original warning to Obama in July 2011 included a plan of action to address Iceland's whaling.

In response, Obama sent a letter to Congress denouncing Iceland's commercial whaling practices. The letter outlined a six-part plan to impose diplomatic sanctions as originally proposed by Locke.

The plan included limiting visits by Cabinet members to Iceland, sending other officials to emphasize U.S. concerns about commercial whaling, and ordering the Department of State to inform Iceland that the U.S. will be monitoring future whaling activity and to possibly limit cooperation on various Arctic projects.

Obama directed the appropriate departments and agencies to report back to him in six months.

A follow-up report gave an explanation of actions taken by the relevant departments and stated that "Senior Administration officials have raised our concerns on whaling with Icelandic Government officials at every opportunity."

Obama's promise to "strengthen" the moratorium is somewhat difficult to quantitatively evaluate, but we think it's accurate to say the Obama administration has been a leader in worldwide whale conservation through the response to Iceland and through other initiatives.

The United States continues to be an advocate for reducing ship collisions with whales, and U.S. government agencies have created a whale watching database. They also created an iPhone app called "WhaleAlert!" that helps keep ships from colliding with the highly endangered Right Whale.

The U.S. also proposed amendments to the International Maritime Organization that would redesignate travel lanes for coastal shipping in California.

The key aspects of Obama's promise include providing "leadership" in conservation efforts and strengthening the moratorium which he has done through various initiatives. But here's the catch: Japan, Iceland and Norway are still whaling. We rate this a Compromise.