62nd International Whaling Commission meeting

The 62nd meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) took place 21-25 June 2010 in Agadir, Morocco.
IWC members discussed a proposal put forward by the IWC Chair that would have allowed commercial whaling in the Southern Ocean for the first time in almost 25 years.

The IWC Chair also proposed commercial whaling quotas for whale species listed by the IUCN as endangered.

Why?
The IWC has been at a standstill for several years now with countries whaling outside the IWC’s control. The proposal put forward by the IWC Chair is an attempt to make a deal that will break the deadlock between pro-whaling and pro-conservation nations and reduce the number of whales killed each year.
WWF press updates from IWC 62 meeting in Agadir, Morroco (June 25-25).
The IWC suggested a compromise version, but WWF's position was not to support the proposal unless it was revised to include the following six points:

  1. End all whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
     
  2. If any whaling is authorized the whale products must be for domestic consumption only.
     
  3. Any agreed catch limits for whales must be calculated by the IWC Scientific Committee using the published version of the Revised Management Procedure (RMP), which is specifically designed to safeguard whale populations while providing for some sustainable use as long as the species being considered is determined to have a healthy population.
     
  4. No whales should be killed that are either a threatened species or in a threatened population.
     
  5. End all so-called scientific whaling.
     
  6. If this deal goes through then governments should not be allowed to lodge any reservations and attempt to operate outside of the IWC.
Download the full text of WWF's response to the IWC by clicking on the relevant language version to the right.

After significant debate, the Chair's proposal was defeated at IWC62.

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