International Whaling Commission (IWC)

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) is the global body responsible for the management of whaling and the conservation of whales.

Membership in the IWC is open to any nation that formally adheres to the 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW). Each member country is represented by a Commissioner, who may be assisted by experts and advisers. The Chair and Vice-Chair of the Commission are elected from among the Commissioners and usually serve for three years.

At present, there are about 60 members of the IWC, though not all are active. Each nation (which has paid its membership dues) has one vote, regardless of its population, its economic power, or whether it is engaged in whaling.

Non-binding resolutions on any matter concerning whales and whaling may be adopted by a simple majority of member states voting "yes" or "no." Binding decisions (for example, an overturn of the current moratorium on commercial whaling) require a three-quarter majority.

More than 25,000 whales still killed

After commercial whaling devastated many whale populations earlier last century, the IWC took measures to protect the planet’s whales. These include a suspension of all commercial whaling from 1986 and the establishment of the Indian Ocean Sanctuary in 1979 and the Southern Ocean Sanctuary in 1994. However, more than 25,000 whales have been killed since the 1986 moratorium, many of these because so-called “scientific whaling” by countries such as Japan and Norway is allowed under an IWC loophole.

Whales for sale

Japan has embarked on a concerted vote-buying programme that could see pro-whaling countries control a simple majority of votes at future IWC meetings. This bloc has already sunk votes to set up more whale sanctuaries in the South Pacific and South Atlantic Oceans.

The IWC is considering a Revised Management Scheme (RMS) for commercial whaling. Japan and Norway are trying to push through a weak version of the RMS that would automatically lift the current ban on whaling and contain insufficient enforcement provisions. Japan and Norway have also stalled the introduction of a whale DNA register held by the IWC as part of the RMS. This is the only part of the RMS that could reveal the existence of illegal whaling.