IWC Talks Fail in Morocco

The International Whaling Commission's 62nd Annual Meeting in Agadir, Morocco ended on Friday without reaching a consensus on a 10-year peace plan. The proposed plan keeps the moratorium on commercial whaling.

Importantly, the three countries that at present set their own catch limits (Japan,Norway, Iceland) will have agreed to IWC-set sustainable catch limits that are substantially below present levels as well as to a rigorous oversight and enforcement arrangement. As proposed, several thousand less whales will be caught over the ten-year period than would have occurred if the present situation remained.

Under the proposed plan IWC members would:

• retain the the 24-year-old moratorium on commercial whaling;
  
• suspend immediately for the ten-year period, unilaterally-determined whaling under special permit, objections, and reservations;
  
• bring all whaling authorised by member governments under the control of the IWC;
  
• limit whaling to those members who currently take whales;
  
• ensure that no new non-indigenous whaling takes place on whale species or populations not currently hunted;
  
• establish caps for the next ten years that are significantly less than current catches and within sustainable levels, determined using the best available scientific advice;
  
• introduce modern, effective IWC monitoring, surveillance and control measures for whaling operations;
  
• create a South Atlantic Sanctuary;
  
• recognize the non-lethal value and uses of whales, such as whalewatching, as a management option for coastal states and address related scientific, conservation and management issues of such uses;
  
• provide a mechanism for enterprise and capacity building for developing countries;
  
• focus on the recovery of depleted whale stocks and take actions on key conservation issues, including bycatch, climate change and other environmental threats;
  
• set a decisive direction to the future work of the IWC including measures to reform the governance of the Commission; and
  
• establish a timetable and mechanism for addressing the fundamental differences of view amongst member governments in order to provide for the effective functioning of the Commission over the longer term.
  

Via the IWC:

The Commission completed its discussions on the Future of the IWC without reaching a consensus resolution of its main differences. However, it noted that the intense work over the last two years had led to increased understanding of the different views held and an improved atmosphere of trust. It agreed to a pause in its work on this topic to allow time for reflection until the 2011 Annual Meeting.

The plan to bring all whaling under the control of the IWC would also close the loophole that the Japanese fleet exploits to kill hundreds of whales each year in the Southern Ocean under the guise of "scientific research." The NY Times: Whaling Talks in Morocco Fail to Produce Reductions

Delegates of the commission’s 88 member governments had been discussing whether to maintain a 24-year-old moratorium on commercial whaling. A compromise plan proposed by the United States and other antiwhaling nations would have allowed the three countries to resume commercial whaling but at significantly lower levels and under tight monitoring.