Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary

The Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary is an area of 50 million square kilometres surrounding the continent of Antarctica where the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has banned all types of commercial whaling. To date, the IWC has designated two such sanctuaries, the other being the Indian Ocean Whale Sanctuary. Repeated proposals at the IWC to add a South Atlantic Sanctuary and a South Pacific Sanctuary have never reached the 75% majority needed to pass.

History

Establishment of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary was agreed upon by the IWC in 1994 with 23 countries supporting the agreement and only Japan opposing it.

The status of the Southern Ocean Sanctuary is reviewed and open to change by the IWC every 10 years. [ [http://www.iwcoffice.org/conservation/sanctuaries.htm#sanctuaries Whale sanctuaries ] ] During the 2004 meeting a proposal was made by Japan to remove the sanctuary, but it failed to reach the 75% majority required (it received 25 votes in favour and 30 votes against with two abstentions).

As sanctuaries only apply to commercial whaling, Japan has continued to hunt whales inside the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary because its whaling is done in accordance with a provision in the IWC charter permitting whaling for the purposes of scientific research (Japan also lodged a formal objection to the sanctuary with regard to minke whales, meaning that, in accordance with IWC rules, the terms of the sanctuary do not apply to Japan with respect to minkes). [http://www.iwcoffice.org/commission/schedule.htm - see para 7(b) and its footnotes] The catch of the 2005 season (Dec 05-Mar 06) inside the sanctuary included 856 minke whales and ten of the endangered Fin whale. In 2007 - 2008 Japan planned to take 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales.

Area

The northern boundary of the sanctuary follows the 40°S parallel of latitude except in the Indian Ocean sector where it joins the southern boundary of the Indian Ocean Whale Sanctuary at 55°S, and around South America and into the South Pacific where the boundary is at 60°S.

Dispute over legality

Japan has argued that the establishment of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary was in contravention of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) on which the IWC is based and is therefore illegal, and several prominent legal experts have agreed. While there is no settlement procedure in the IWC for this type of dispute, Japan has asked the IWC to submit its case to a relevant legal body for analysis, which the IWC has refused to do. [http://www.highnorth.no/Library/Trade/CITES/ci-an-iw.htm - Section 5.6]

References

External links

* [http://www.iwcoffice.org/conservation/sanctuaries.htm IWC page on the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary]
* [http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/species/our_solutions/policy/iwc/history/iwc_successes_failures/index.cfm Successes and Failures of the IWC] (WWF)
* [http://weblog.greenpeace.org/oceandefenders/archive/2006/12/i_was_there_how_the_south_1.html I was there: how the Southern Ocean Sanctuary came to be] (Greenpeace)