International whaling ban
The International Whaling Ban, established by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and implemented on January 1, 1986, was a significant international effort aimed at protecting declining whale populations from commercial exploitation. This ban emerged after decades of severe overhunting that had decimated many whale species, as whaling was historically driven by the demand for whale oil and meat. The 1982 decision to prohibit commercial whaling was influenced by growing environmental concerns and public pressure for conservation. While the ban helped some whale populations rebound, it faced challenges due to non-compliance from several countries, notably Japan and Norway, which sought loopholes to continue whaling under scientific and indigenous exemptions.
Despite some initial success in increasing certain whale populations, the IWC's lack of enforcement mechanisms and ongoing debates about management procedures have complicated the ban's effectiveness. The issue of aboriginal whaling has also sparked controversy, as Indigenous communities were permitted to hunt for subsistence, raising questions about modern hunting methods. In recent years, tensions escalated when Japan withdrew from the IWC in 2019 to restart commercial whaling, arguing that certain whale populations could sustain hunting without significant harm. As public opinion and ecological understanding evolve, the debate over whaling continues to reflect a complex interplay of conservation, cultural rights, and economic interests.
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International whaling ban
IDENTIFICATION: Prohibition on commercial whaling approved by the International Whaling Commission
DATE: Implemented on January 1, 1986
The International Whaling Commission’s ban on commercial whaling was a response to the dramatic decline in the world’s whale populations resulting from the whaling industry, which killed whales primarily for their oil. The ban was successful in helping some whale populations rebound, despite the fact that several nations continued their whaling activities.
By the 1920s the whaling industry had decimated the populations of some whale species. Whale meat, skin, and blubber served as a food source. Whale oil was used to fuel lamps. Fearing a collapse of the industry, which was essential to the economies of a number of nations, some countries implemented laws banning the catch of certain species or of females with calves. However, international cooperation proved to be difficult, if not impossible. The International Whaling Commission (IWC), which was founded on December 2, 1946, in Washington, DC, could do little to slow the continuing destruction of the world’s whale population.
During the 1960s, growing interest in protecting the environment led many people to turn their attention to the problems facing whales, especially the impact of the whaling industry. Public interest led participants at the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1972, to call for a ten-year moratorium on commercial whaling. That same year, the US Congress passed the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which ended US involvement in commercial whaling and allowed the United States to press for a global ban at IWC meetings.
Despite public pressure and the advocacy of the United States, the IWC resisted efforts to adopt a moratorium. However, by the early 1980s, it had become abundantly clear that the whale population had diminished to the point where commercial whaling was fast becoming an industry unable to make profits. The IWC responded to the realities of the situation on July 23, 1982, when it approved a ban on commercial whaling to commence during the 1986 whaling season.
Although environmentalists greeted the passage of the international whaling ban with enthusiasm, several whaling nations, including Japan, Norway, and the Soviet Union, which had all voted against the ban, sought to create loopholes that would allow them to continue their whaling activities. By 1987, declining profits led the Soviet Union to support the ban, but Japan requested exemptions that allowed whaling near the Japanese coastline. When the United States threatened economic sanctions, the Japanese agreed to end commercial whaling. Because the IWC permitted “research” whaling for scientific purposes, Japan was able to continue whaling on a limited basis. While the ostensible reason for this whaling was scientific study, the Japanese used the whale meat as a food resource.
The IWC planned to examine studies of whale populations for a period following implementation of the ban, to determine whether the ban needed to be continued. Although some species did increase in number during the first years after the ban was in place, in 1993 most IWC nations agreed to continue the prohibition. Japan and Norway vigorously protested, and Norway, which had abandoned commercial whaling for economic reasons in 1967, announced its intention to begin hunting minke whales. The Norwegians claimed that minkes had populations large enough to permit whaling to take place without any negative environmental impact. Environmentalists condemned the move, but the IWC had no mechanism for enforcing the ban; the nations that complied did so voluntarily.
The continuation of the ban threatened the existence of the IWC. Iceland quit the commission in 1992 (it rejoined in 2002), and other members expressed growing dissatisfaction with the prohibition when evidence existed that many whale species had undergone significant increases in population. During the 1997 IWC meeting, members debated implementation of the Revised Management Procedure (RMP), which would end research whaling but would allow Norway and Japan to conduct coastal whaling for domestic consumption with strict quotas. While some observers praised the RMP because it would close the research whaling loophole and keep Japan and Norway in the IWC, environmental groups condemned it as the first step toward a return to full-scale commercial whaling. Work toward implementing the RMP continued into the early years of the twenty-first century.
Another issue that raised objections from environmentalists was that of aboriginal whaling. The 1986 ban permitted Indigenous peoples to continue whaling for subsistence and ceremonial purposes. For example, the Inuit were allotted an annual quota of bowhead whales. Opponents argued that because the Inuit were employing modern whaling techniques, their activities no longer met the standards of aboriginal whaling. The issue came to the fore again in 1998, when the Makah in Washington State received permission to hunt five California gray whales, a species that had been removed from the endangered species list in 1993. Although the Makah had not hunted whales since 1928, a nineteenth century treaty with the US government guaranteed their whaling rights. Environmentalists contended that the US government’s support for Makah whaling was intended as a signal to Japan that the United States would support efforts to resume commercial whaling.
Although the ban had symbolic significance, its importance as an environmental measure was limited. It was enacted only after commercial whalers experienced declining profits, a result of decades of hunts that had depleted whale populations. As such, it merely acknowledged the reality that whaling had been devastating for whales. The ban’s loopholes regarding scientific and aboriginal whaling allowed hunts to continue, and whalers killed an estimated eighteen thousand whales during the first twelve years of the ban. Lacking any enforcement mechanisms, the IWC depended on the voluntary cooperation of its member states, many of which adamantly opposed the continuation of the ban during the 1990s. One reason the ban remained in place during this period was the United States’ use of economic sanctions against nations that violated the ban; however, the United States failed to impose sanctions on Norway when it resumed minke whaling in 1993. While the United States officially supported a continuation of the ban, it nonetheless participated in efforts to implement the revised management procedure (RMP), which had catch limits.
In June 2019, Japan withdrew from the International Whaling Commission in order to resume commercial whaling, agreeing with Norway that the population of minke whales had grown enough to resume whaling without significantly impacting their population. On July 1, 2019, Japan ceased hunting whales in the Northern Hemisphere for scientific research and instead sent out a commercial hunt in Japanese coastal waters, their first in over thirty years. The Japanese government gave the fleet permits to catch a total of 227 minke, Bryde's, and sei whales, despite international backlash.
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