Sustainable use of whales: whaling or whale watching?

Synopsis

An examination of the history of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) can offer valuable insights to those managing the exploitation of other wild mammals. To understand the many issues one must look further than the IWC’s past inability to manage whaling which resulted in the declaration of an indefinite moratorium on commercial whaling.

More international effort has been put into determining procedures for the sustainable exploitation of whales than for any other group of wild mammals, yet the history of whaling shows that these substantial efforts have largely failed. Previous attempts to set catch quotas have relied on approaches that were later discovered to be flawed. In addition, science apart, it has never been possible to effectively control whaling. Even when the IWC was setting catch limits that were far too high, those rules were being systematically broken. One example, revealed in 1994 by the Russian Federation, concerns thousands of blue, right and humpback whales that were caught (but not reported to the IWC at the time) by the whaling expeditions of the former Soviet Union years after these species had supposedly received IWC protection.

The various policy options before the IWC include the continuation of the moratorium, a resumption of whaling, the declaration of sanctuaries and the management of whale watching. In recognition of previous inadequacies in attempts to exploit whales in a sustainable fashion, the Scientific Committee of the IWC has spent several years putting together a sophisticated and precautionary procedure (known as the Revised Management Procedure, or RMP) for calculating catch quotas. The RMP is a component of the Revised Management Scheme (RMS) which will encompass other matters to ensure that any whaling is effectively regulated and that catch limits are enforced. In contrast to the effort expended on the development of the RMP, little time has been spent on discussion of regulatory matters. The remote Southern Ocean (the feeding grounds for about 80% of the world’s remaining whales) is one area where regulation of whaling operations remains an insuperable problem and in May 1994 the IWC declared this area a sanctuary for an indefinite period. Finally, utilization should not imply that the use must be lethal. Whale watching is a rapidly growing form of non-lethal sustainable utilization which occurs in around 40 countries; it generates substantial tourist revenue and requires regulation to limit disturbance.