{"id":126854,"date":"2026-09-30T12:25:24","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T06:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=126854"},"modified":"2026-09-30T12:25:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T06:55:24","slug":"international-whaling-commission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/international-whaling-commission\/","title":{"rendered":"International Whaling Commission"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>International Whaling Commission Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India has reaffirmed its commitment to the conservation of whales and other cetaceans (marine mammals) at the 70th meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC-70) held in Hobart, Australia, recently. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About International Whaling Commission<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is an <\/span><b>intergovernmental organization<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> established to <\/span><b>regulate whaling<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and promote the<\/span><b> conservation of whale populations.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was established under the <\/span><b>1946<\/b> <b>International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Formed in <\/span><b>response to the alarming decline of whale stocks in the 1930s, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the IWC initially aimed to ensure sustainable whaling practices among its member nations.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Convention also <\/span><b>applies to factory ships, land stations, and whale catchers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> under the jurisdiction of the contracting governments, and <\/span><b>to all waters in which they carry out whaling.\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Membership<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beginning in 1979, IWC membership started to grow: 23 members in 1979, 41 by 1985. Currently, there are<\/span><b> 88 contracting governments.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Countries that do not hunt whales can also join<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the IWC.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some of the current <\/span><b>members include: Australia<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Brazil, <\/span><b>China<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Denmark, <\/span><b>France<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Germany, <\/span><b>Iceland<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>India<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>Japan (until 2019)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Mexico, New Zealand, <\/span><b>Norway<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>Russia<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, South Africa, Sweden, United Kingdom, and <\/span><b>United States.\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The IWC&#8217;s <\/span><b>main office <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is in Impington, near <\/span><b>Cambridge, England.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are generally <\/span><b>three types of whaling<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that the <\/span><b>Commission regulates:<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Commercial Whaling:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>In 1986, a global moratorium<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, or a temporary ban, on commercial whaling was adopted due to the overexploitation of whale stocks.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Commission has also <\/span><b>designated sanctuary areas<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the <\/span><b>Indian and Southern Oceans <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">where<\/span><b> commercial whaling is not allowed.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although the <\/span><b>moratorium is still in place<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>some countries<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, such as<\/span><b> Norway<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>Iceland<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, continue to <\/span><b>engage in commercial whaling <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">activities.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Scientific Research Whaling:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Article VIII of the Convention <\/span><b>allows <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">contracting <\/span><b>governments to issue special permits<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> authorizing the taking of whales for purposes of<\/span><b> scientific research.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Japan\u2019s lethal scientific research<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the <\/span><b>North Pacific and Southern Oceans<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> under such special permits <\/span><b>ended in 2019 with their withdrawal <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">from the Convention.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Subsistence Whaling:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Commission also <\/span><b>regulates aboriginal subsistence whaling <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(whaling by native people to sustain themselves).\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Currently, the Commission <\/span><b>permits indigenous communities<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in <\/span><b>Denmark <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(Greenland), the <\/span><b>Russian Federation,<\/b> <b>St. Vincent and the Grenadines,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and the <\/span><b>United States<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to engage in this type of whaling on certain whale stocks.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over the years, the IWC has faced significant <\/span><b>challenges.\u00a0<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It<\/span><b> does not have<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> a way to <\/span><b>force countries to follow its rules or punish<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> them.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It often becomes a platform for member nations to negotiate over whaling quotas rather than prioritizing conservation efforts.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In <\/span><b>2018<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the IWC members made the <\/span><b>&#8220;Florian\u00f3polis Declaration.&#8221;<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They <\/span><b>decided <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that the IWC&#8217;s <\/span><b>main purpose<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is to <\/span><b>protect whales forever. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They also want all <\/span><b>whale populations to return to their numbers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> before large-scale whaling began.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The declaration also stated that using <\/span><b>deadly methods for research is not needed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>After this, Japan announced <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">on December 26, 2018, that it was <\/span><b>leaving the IWC. <\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>News: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newindianexpress.com\/amp\/story\/india\/2026\/Sep\/29\/india-advocates-for-collaborative-conservation-strategies-at-international-whaling-commission\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><b>NIE<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>International Whaling Commission is an intergovernmental organization established to regulate whaling and promote the conservation of whale populations. Read more about International Whaling Commission, Establishment, Headquarters, Members.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":126906,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10579],"class_list":["post-126854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","tag-international-whaling-commission","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126854"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":126913,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126854\/revisions\/126913"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}