Humanity's complex relationship with whales and dolphins is marked by contradiction, ranging from reverence, affinity, and cultural significance to one of history's darkest chapters in the unsustainable exploitation of any wild species.

WWF's campaign to end uncontrolled commercial whaling is part of a much broader effort to minimise human impacts on all cetaceans, whether from commercial exploitation, climate change, being caught and killed in fisheries nets or other human-caused threats.

In the context of the International Whaling Commission, WWF is working to promote conservation of all cetaceans as well as to ensure that commercial exploitation never again threatens any species of whale.

The next IWC meeting (the 59th) will take place in Anchorage, Alaska, USA.

The Annual Commission Meeting will take place from Monday 28 to Thursday 31 May.

Find out what's on the table this year for whales.