Pro- and anti-whaling nations once again clashed on the fate of the world’s whale populations at the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) held from 19-22 July 2004 in Sorrento, Italy.

While the Commission’s 18-year long moratorium on commercial whaling is still in place, calls to establish new whale sanctuaries in the South Pacific or the South Atlantic were rejected. Currently, there are two whaling sanctuaries operating worldwide, one in the Indian Ocean and a second in the Southern Ocean. Proposals for sanctuaries in the South Pacific (26 for, 21 against, 4 abstentions) and South Atlantic (26 for, 22 against, 4 abstentions) failed to gain the necessary three-quarters majorities to be adopted. A proposal to delete the provision for the Southern Ocean Sanctuary and to include a catch limit of 2,914 Antarctic minke whales was also not adopted (19 for, 30 against, 2 abstentions). However, even with a ban in place, an estimated 1,400 whales are killed each year under various exemptions by such pro-whaling nations as Japan, Norway and Iceland.
On conservation issues, the IWC discussed the development of its new Conservation Committee. While some delegates argued that the IWC should not focus on conservation, the Commission maintained that it has a clear mandate for the conservation of whales. In addition, the Commission agreed to promote a series of regional workshops to develop short and long-term approaches to managing cetacean bycatch, one of the most serious threats to their status. The IWC also unanimously endorsed the report of its Scientific Committee describing the Sakhalin oil and gas development project in the Russian Far East as a threat to the survival of the critically endangered Western North Pacific gray whale, and adopted a resolution calling for urgent measures to be taken to protect this critically endangered whale population.
On the IWC’s Revised Management Procedure (RMP), the Commission said it would not set catch limits for commercial whaling until it has agreed and adopted a complete Revised Management Scheme (RMS). Several anti-whaling nations said that they would like to see the RMS adopted, but not implemented, as they wish to maintain the moratorium beyond the adoption of the scheme, while pro-whaling nations failed to see the logic of discussing the RMS if there is no intention to lift the moratorium. The IWC did adopt by consensus a resolution providing that it will move “expeditiously” towards the completion of both the drafting of text and technical details of the RMS for discussion at next year’s IWC meeting in Ulsan, Korea. Resolutions and other outcomes from IWC-56 can be found at: http://www.iwcoffice.org/_documents/meetings/2004Pressrelease.pdf