IWC Gridlocked - Conservationists Urge Overhaul Of Treaty

The Ocean Conservancy
Friday, 27 July 2001

WASHINGTON, DC - As the International Whaling Commission (IWC) closed its 53rd annual meeting today in London, Cynthia Thomas, a Marine Mammal Specialist with The Ocean Conservancy, expressed disappointment that the meeting had achieved little, and noted, in fact, that the Commission has lost ground over the last 15 years.

"More whales are being killed today than in 1986," Thomas said, when the IWC imposed a commercial moratorium on whaling in order to allow seriously depleted whale populations to recover, and to allow the Commission to evaluate and improve its management process. "Despite 50 years of management by the IWC, few whale species have recovered from the devastating effects of commercial whaling," she added.

One reason is the inherent design of the Commission itself. The IWC has no regulatory authority; parties dissenting from IWC recommendations may opt out of IWC mandates simply by filing a reservation. Another loophole allows nations to kill whales for scientific purposes. Norway and Japan, the two major whaling nations today, have continued to kill more and more whales each year since the moratorium was imposed, under the guise of scientific research.

"These loopholes, along with other problems within the Commission, emphasize the immediate need to evaluate the Whaling Convention and bring it into line with modern international treatises. We need to give the IWC the tools it needs to effectively conserve whales and manage whaling around the world," declared Nina Young, Director of Marine Wildlife Conservation for The Ocean Conservancy.

The Ocean Conservancy is advocating an overhaul of the 50-year old Whaling Convention, and has made recommendations in several areas, including expanding the Convention's focus to cover small cetacean hunts, which take more than 20,000 dolphins and small whales every year, and including observation and inspection systems, trade sanctions, and a precautionary approach to whaling, standard elements of modern-day, multilateral agreements.

At the meeting, Thomas presented thousands of petitions from Ocean Conservancy members outraged by the continued abuses by Japan and Norway, and demanding action.

For more information, or to contact The Ocean Conservancy, see their website at: www.oceanconservancy.org