AWS Community Day CPH - Three problems of Terraform
The history of the international whaling commission
1. The History of the International
Whaling Commission
Hannah Hayward
2. 1931: First Convention
• Geneva: , “The presentation convention applies
only to baleens or whalebone whales.”
• “The taking or killing of right whales, which is
deemed to include North Cape whales,
Greenland Whales, southern right whales, Pacific
right whales, and southern pigmy right whales, is
prohibited...The taking or killing of calves or
suckling whales, immature whales and female
whales which are accompanied by calves (or
suckling whales) is prohibited.”
3. 1938: The Protocol
• London: “...it is forbidden for any factory ship or
whale catcher attached thereto for the purpose
of catching or treating humpback whales in any
waters south of 40° south latitude.”
• “...it is forbidden for any factory ship or whale
catcher attached thereto for the purpose of
catching or treating baleen whales in the waters
south of 40° south latitude from 70° west
longitude westwards as far as 160° west
longitude.”
4. 1946: The International Convention
• Washington: “Considering that the history of
whaling has seen overfishing of one area after
another area and of one species after another to
such a degree that it is essential to protect all
whale species from overfishing.”
• “Recognizing that in the course of achieving these
objectives, whaling operations should be
confined to those species best able to sustain
exploitation in order to give interval for recovery
in certain species of whales depleted in
numbers.”
6. The International Whaling Commission
“These measures, among other things, provide for the
complete protection of certain species; designate specified
areas as whale sanctuaries; set limits on the numbers and size
of whales which may be taken; prescribe open and closed
seasons and areas for whaling; and prohibit the capture of
suckling calves and female whales accompanied by calves. The
compilation of catch reports and other statistical and biological
records is also required.”
7. • “the Commission
encourages, co-
ordinates and funds
whale research,
publishes the results of
scientific research and
promotes studies into
related matters such as
the humaneness of the
killing operations.”
8.
9. IWC Challenges
• “Cetologists are more
conversationist, stressing the
need to maintain whale
populations at levels that
ensure reproduction over the
long term, while industry
managers are more
comsumptionist, giving
greater weight to the
immediate economic return
from taking whales.”
10. • “Whaling ships now travel much farther for
their catch and kill much smaller and younger
whales.”
11. Accomplisments
• In 1977, “the IWC banned the import of whale
products from any nonIWC nation and
reduced the whale kill quotas by more than
36%.” In 1982, the Indian Ocean was officially
made a whale sanctuary and remains one
today. Ibid., 106
12. • “Japanese scientists have been intensely
criticised for their research, which claims that
whales need to be culled in order to preserve
fishing stocks and that whales are taking food
from the mouths of millions of people.”
13. • The IWC may have its challenges, like most
environmental organizations, but they still,
undoubtedly, give these creatures a voice,
which others seem to ignore.
14.
15. Bibliography
• "The Commission." International Whaling Commission. 11 Nov. 2010. Web. 19 Nov. 2010.
<http://www.iwcoffice.org/commission/iwcmain.htm>.
• "Convention for the Regulation of Whaling." The American Journal of International Law 30.4 (1936):
167-74. JSTOR. Web. 20 Nov. 2010.
<http://www.jstor.org.libaccess.lib.mcmaster.ca/stable/2213438>.
• "International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling." The American Journal of International
Law 43.4 (1949): 174-85. JSTOR. Web. 19 Nov. 2010.
<http://www.jstor.org.libaccess.lib.mcmaster.ca/stable/2213993>.
• "IWC." UNEP Regional Seas. United Nations Environment Programme, 2010. Web. 17 Nov. 2010.
<http://www.unep.ch/regionalseas/legal/iwc.htm>.
• Mandel, Robert. "Transnational Resource Conflict." International Studies Quarterly 24.1 (1980): 99-
127. JSTOR. Web. 19 Nov. 2010. <http://www.jstor.org.libaccess.lib.mcmaster.ca/stable/2600130>.
• McGirk, James B. "Between the Lines: the Whaling Commission Flounders." Foreign Policy 132
(2002): 66-67. JSTOR. Web. 19 Nov. 2010.
<http://www.jstor.org.libaccess.lib.mcmaster.ca/stable/3183457?seq=2>.
• Peterson, M. J. "Whalers, Cetologists, Environmentalists, and the International Management of
Whaling." International Organization 41.1 (1992): 147-86. JSTOR. Web. 18 Nov. 2010.
<http://www.jstor.org.libaccess.lib.mcmaster.ca/stable/2706954>.
• "Protocol on Regulation of Whaling." The American Journal of International Law 34.2 (1949):
115-25.JSTOR. Web. 17 Nov. 2010.
<http://www.jstor.org.libaccess.lib.mcmaster.ca/stable/2213604>.
