Passionate about saving the whales? Well, according to a former leader of the International Whaling Committee, the job is already done.
In fact, Peter Bridgewater, who chaired the IWC from 1994 to 1997 published a commentary in Nature last week, sharing that he believes it’s time for the organization — which was founded in 1946 to address the threat of the whaling industry — to disband.
“As the convention nears its 80th anniversary, we propose that the IWC hands over several pending issues to other conventions and national governments and closes up shop,” Bridgewater wrote.
The opinion was written alongside conservationists Rakhyun Kim of the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development at Utrecht University, Robert Blasiak of the Stockholm Resilience Centre, and Nikolas Sellheim of the Polar Cooperation Research Centre at Kobe University in Japan.
The IWC was founded at the height of the whaling industry, which killed thousands of marine mammals per year for oil and other resources.
But as global whale populations rebound with unprecedented stamina, Bridgewater and colleagues concluded that the IWC has “outlived its useful life.”
“The IWC’s accomplishments — managing global whale populations and especially implementing a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1985 — are laudable,” they shared in the opinion. “But these achievements lie four decades in the past.”
The researchers went on to explain that the organization has become a “zombie,” of itself, with meetings consisting of “fruitless dialogue among member nations.” Additionally, the group uses up millions in funding annually to pay for secretariats and meetings, and spends resources from various governments.
Residual duties, like monitoring ozone depletion or fishing entanglements, could be handled by other governing bodies, such as the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species, the writers say.
“Species numbers have bounced back since the moratorium to varying degrees levels,” the contributors added. “And that is the point of our message to the IWC: ‘You have done your job. It’s been really good work. You have got a result. Now it is time to hang up things and go with dignity.’”
Virtually all species of whale populations have indeed increased, and continue to steadily grow. Humpback whales bounced back exponentially, and populations of blue and minke whales are also slowly increasing.
It’s worth noting that the North Atlantic right whale is an exception to this trend and does remain threatened, as the species suffers vessel strikes, fishing net entanglements, and other human activity-related issues.
However, in the United States, NOAA Fisheries just received $82 million in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act to help recover the species.
Much of the rebounding of these populations is the result of tireless conservation efforts, as well as the IWC’s moratorium on commercial whaling, beginning in 1985.
“The agreement was groundbreaking in its ambition. It led to the near-total cessation of whaling activities… and has contributed to the resurgence of many whale species, including the largest animal on Earth, the blue whale,” Bridgewater and colleagues said.
“This is a huge achievement. But in the years since, the convention has done little to help conserve the great whales (including the gray, humpback, right, sperm, bowhead and minke whale), or encourage the sustainable harvesting of their populations.”
Whaling also remains an issue in Norway, Iceland, and Japan, though Bridgewater insisted that “these involve just a small number of catches.” Some Indigenous groups and scientific communities are also permitted to continue whaling for subsistence or educational purposes.
Regardless of the ongoing challenges that face whales today, Bridgewater and colleagues believe conservation and environmental organizations have evolved to consolidate and respect the boundaries once developed by the IWC.
“Some people might argue that letting countries regulate and manage their own whaling in their own waters could result in a resurgence of large-scale commercial whaling,” the researchers added.
“We think that this is extremely unlikely, not least because of the lack of demand for whale products (oil and meat) and changing attitudes around wildlife. What’s more, several other conventions can provide protection against such a scenario.”
Current IWC members responded to this motion to disband by affirming the value of the body.
In a statement shared with the Guardian, a spokesperson said that the group has grown to address other concerns, like entanglement and bycatch threats, collisions with vessels, and “of course the world-leading and wide-ranging program of the IWC Scientific Committee, which includes assessments of whale populations around the world.”
The group will meet again in September, and while it’s unclear what its future looks like, Bridgewater and colleagues are direct in their call to action.
“Today, the IWC should celebrate its accomplishments, devolve its final responsibilities and send a powerful message about the importance of knowing when to stop,” they write.
“By exiting with dignity, the IWC would set a powerful example for the international environmental community.”
Header image courtesy of Elianne Dipp/Pexels
