Corruption scandal rocks the International Whaling Commission
there was a time when millions of great whales roamed the Earth
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Sea Stories
🐋 Corruption scandal rocks the International Whaling Commission
There was a time when tens of millions of great whales roamed the Earth….right before commercial whaling. In the 18th century this industry almost brought these majestic creatures to extinction. Today, whale populations are slowly bouncing back, but their protection relies on a moratorium on whaling signed in 1982 by the member states of the International Whaling Commission (IWC).
So what is the IWC? In short, the IWC is an organisation that went from managing whales as a resource to, theoretically, whale conservation.
In its first twenty years the Commission didn’t achieve its goal. The remaining whale populations were being hunted to extinction as member nations pursued their own economic interests. As whale populations decreased, whaling became uneconomical and slowly whaling nations hung up their harpoons. By the early 1970s former whaling countries began to push for whale conservation instead.
This is what brought the Commission to its decision to place a moratorium on commercial whaling on all whale species in 1986. Norway and Iceland were the two countries to object and continue with the practice. Whereas, in 2019 Japan left the IWC and began to catch whales again—as a non-member the moratorium doesn’t apply.
Since the moratorium the IWC work programme now also includes bycatch, entanglement, ship strikes, ocean noise, pollution and debris, sustainable whale watching, and - perhaps most importantly - the creation of whale sanctuaries.
So how are decisions made?
The Commission’s Scientific Committee meets for two weeks to discuss the ‘schedule’, this is a legally binding document that sets out specific measures that the IWC has collectively decided are necessary in order to regulate whaling and conserve whale stocks.
“The Schedule can be amended and updated when the Commission meets (a change requires at least three quarters majority agreement).”
However, this year a corruption scandal rocked the IWC meeting as Japan subverted the approval of the South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary
Somehow press releases are deeming this year’s meeting a “success.” Yet, at Seaspiracy we dug deeper and interviewed whale conservation groups that were present during the meetings to fully understand what really happened and why the South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary wasn’t approved.
Logically, if three-quarter votes are needed to approve new rules, such as sanctuaries, and only two member countries are still whaling, then how come whale sanctuaries aren’t being approved left and right? Isn’t the IWC a whale conservation commission now? So here a recap of what’s going on:
At this year’s meeting conservationists were excited at the prospect that the sanctuary could finally be approved. Let’s be clear, Japan is not a member of the IWC, therefore it does not officially participate at the meetings. However, Japanese officials know the rules of the game: a three-quarter majority vote.
Jose Truda Palazzo Jr. activist, policy advisor and environmentalist at the Brazilian Humpback Whale Institute explained the situation to us:
“Actual conservation methods such as the approval of the South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary were impeded by continued Japanese corruption of the system of governance of the IWC. The sanctuary didn’t pass, because it missed ONE vote. What happened? African countries that had committed to vote yes, like Benin, whose President had initially committed in writing, and Cote d’Ivoire, whose ambassador had flown to Peru to vote for the sanctuary, at the very last moment, after meeting with Japan, changed their votes."
Unless this scandal is exposed and addressed then Japan will continue to subvert the IWC’s governance process, thus heavily compromising the IWC’s goal to conserve and protect whales from commercial whaling.
If you’re just as surprised as we were to learn this, please share this story far and wide!
📺 What we’re watching: If you haven’t watched this mini-series yet, it’s a must! And if you have, take some time to watch it again and remind yourself of what we’re fighting to protect.
📚What we’re reading: Deep Thinkers: Inside the Minds of Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises, by Janet Mann
📸 Who we’re following: @whalesanctuaryproject
🤯 Mindblowing ocean fact we learnt this month: 16,000 whales have been murdered every year for 83 consecutive years in the Antarctic alone.