The future of whales hangs in the balance as the latest IWC meeting gets under way in Peru
The 69th meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) opens today in Lima, Peru, where some countries will be pushing for the creation of a new whale sanctuary and others for a return to commercial whaling.
Contracting governments to the International Convention on the Regulation of Whaling will meet for five days to discuss a number of issues surrounding the conservation of whales and other cetaceans and the management of whaling.
EIA’s team at IWC69 in Peru, from left, Sarah Dolman, Clare Perry and CT Harry (c) EIA
Decisions taken at this meeting will have far-reaching consequences for the conservation of cetacean species, one-quarter of which are already threatened with extinction.
At top of the agenda is a proposal from the Governments of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay to establish a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic. This proposal has been submitted repeatedly since 1998. At the last IWC meeting in 2022, when it became clear that the sanctuary would gain the necessary three-quarters of votes in favour to be adopted, whaling countries and their supporters staged a walk-out, successfully preventing discussion and voting.
The agenda also includes a proposal from Antigua, Barbuda and St Lucia aimed at lifting the moratorium on commercial whaling and resuming commercial whaling, as well as a proposal on food security submitted by the Republic of Guinea with support of a number of West African and Caribbean countries which aims to establish the IWC’s support for the ‘sustainable utilisation’ of whales.
Counter to these pro-whaling proposals are draft resolutions on “International legal obligations in commercial whaling activities”, “Cooperation with CCAMLR in Antarctica” and “Synergies between the IWC, the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the BBNJ Agreement”, submitted by the EU.
Despite the moratorium, three countries — Japan, Norway and Iceland — continue to conduct commercial whaling, killing more than 44,000 whales since the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling. Recent events, such as new fin whale hunting quotas and construction of a new factory ship in Japan, are alarming and underpin the need for the IWC and its contracting governments to take stronger action to ensure compliance with the moratorium.
In addition to our opening statement, EIA has prepared two briefings, available in English and Spanish, to support these important initiatives:
- End Commercial Whaling – Reinforce the IWC’s Global Moratorium to Protect Cetaceans in the 21st Century was produced together with AWI, ProWildlife, WDC and OceanCare.
- South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary – the International Whaling Commission offers a lifeline to protect whales and marine biodiversity.
IWC69 is being streamed live and our campaigners will share updates during and at the end of the meeting on the discussions and decisions taken.
