Source: "Opening statement of IUCN - the World Conservation Union-, to the 51st meeting of the International Whaling Commission May 1999"

INTERNATIONAL WHALING COMMISSION

Grand Anse, Grenada, 24 May 1999

IUCN - the World Conservation Union – views the condition of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) with increasing concern. Six years after completion of the Revised Management Procedure, the Commission has still not completed and adopted the Revised Management Scheme, even though the remaining obstacles could be overcome with a modicum of goodwill on both sides. The Commission now stands as deeply divided as ever. Recent Annual Meetings have yielded many adversarial resolutions but relatively little in the form of concrete decisions to address the problems threatening whales today and in the future. Although catches of whales are continuing to increase, the IWC has shown little sign of an intention to resume its responsibility for the management of whaling.

The mission of the IWC, to safeguard whale stocks for the benefit of future generations, remains as important today as when the Commission was first convened over 50 years ago. During the half century of the Commissions existence, threats to cetaceans have diversified in ways not envisaged when the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) was signed. Only a strong Commission which has overcome its internal divisions will be in a position to counter these new threats.

If the IWC loses its reputation as a serious international body working for the conservation of whales, it will be hard for it to regain sufficient respect for its decisions to be taken seriously and heeded. Although it is not formally accountable to anyone except its members, the effectiveness and authority of the Commission depend to a large extent on the respect and support of the wider international community. These can only be maintained if the Commission’s decisions are seen to be reasonable and the Commission can provide convincing justifications for its policies and actions.

The world still looks to the IWC as the lead body responsible for the management of whaling and the conservation of whales. By and large, other international bodies, such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), still defer to the IWC on the matters of whaling regulation and whale conservation. However, it is uncertain whether they will continue to do so unless the IWC is seen to take its duties seriously. The appearance of regional organisations such as North American Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO) is due in part to dissatisfaction with the IWC. Once other bodies begin to take decisions affecting whales independently of the IWC, it will become more and more difficult for the IWC to regain its status as the primary body for the management and conservation of whales. This would be unfortunate, because the IWC and its Scientific Committee have assembled a great deal of scientific knowledge and expertise relating to cetaceans. They are well equipped to determine scientifically sound measures to conserve the world’s whales. Indeed, the IWC’s analyses of cetacean populations and cetacean management issues have reached a high standard of rigour.

In IUCN’s view, the most responsible and scientifically defensible first step the IWC can take towards reasserting its role and consolidating its authority would be to complete, adopt and implement the Revised Management Scheme (RMS). In this regard, IUCN welcomed the proposal made by Ireland in 1997 for a package of measures, including adoption of the RMS, that was aimed at resolving the issues dividing the IWC membership. Although IUCN recognises that some aspects of the Irish proposals are controversial for some IWC members, it sees no reason why the RMS could not be adopted as a first step, since the Commission has already reached agreement on all the main elements of the RMS. The outstanding items such as arrangements for observation and inspection could be settled quite easily because the Commission is already in agreement on most points.

In the 21^st century, the threats to cetacean species and populations can be expected to become more diverse and severe. Fishing effort is certain to continue to increase and to expand into previously unexploited areas, with a parallel increase in the numbers of cetaceans killed incidentally. High and increasing burdens of pollutants in many cetacean populations are a source of concern. Rapid changes to coastal habitat are having severe impacts on the populations of several cetacean species. Substantial fisheries for small cetaceans exist in many areas. The rapid growth of high-speed shipping poses a potentially major new threat to whale populations in many areas.

Increasingly, cetaceans are being seen as competitors to fishing operations for limited stocks of prey species. As the global economy continues to expand, the demand for marine products will continue to increase: it could double within the next 2-3 decades. As expanding fishing fleets exert greater pressure on dwindling fish stocks, and are forced to diversify into new species and areas, the current level of tolerance extended to marine predators such as cetaceans will be hard to maintain, regardless of whether the competition between cetaceans and fisheries is ecologically real or merely perceived by fishing industries and management agencies. Increasingly, the onus of proof will fall on bodies such as the IWC to demonstrate that the maintenance of abundant cetacean populations is not incompatible with the maximisation of fishery yields. It will not be sufficient for the IWC merely to conclude that not enough is known or that evidence is lacking to show that cetaceans are affecting fishery yields. The IWC must be able and willing to provide authoritative advice to other fishery management agencies.

Each Commission meeting that passes without any concrete progress on the RMS further dents the credibility of the IWC and jeopardises its ability to re-assert its role as a serious management body. If the Commission neglects its statutory duties, these will be taken over by other agencies with possibly less commitment to, and certainly less expertise in, whale conservation. In the absence of a clear signal from this 51^st meeting that the IWC is able and willing to resume its lead role with respect to the conservation and management of whales, the likelihood increases that other intergovernmental mechanisms will take decisions on whales that leave the IWC behind.

IUCN urges the IWC members participating in this 51^st Annual Meeting of the Commission to recognise the gravity of the situation, and to take decisive steps to overcome the divisions within the Commission and to restore the authority of the IWC as the global body for the management and conservation of whales, so that it will be in a position to address and take on the threats faced by cetaceans in the 21^st century.

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