Issue Focus: The International Whaling Commission

Main Articles

· Alexander Gillespie, Whaling under a Scientific Auspice: The Ethics of Scientific Research Whaling Operations

Abstract:

Ethical questions that pertain to morals and attempt to ascertain suitable standards of behaviour within international environmental law, and the whaling debate in particular, are of increasing interest to the International Whaling Commission (IWC). Interest in ethical analysis of standards arises from recognition that solutions to intractable problems can only be achieved through ethical discourse. This article seeks to apply ethical principles to the scientific whaling controversy (under Article VIII of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling that has swirled at the IWC over the past decade.

Keywords:

International Whaling Commission, Scientific Whaling, Animal Rights; Ethics.

Comments

William C.G. Burns, From the Harpoon to the Heat: Climate Change and the International Whaling Commission in the 21^st Century

Abstract:

Ultimately, “environmental change,” defined recently by the International Whaling Commission as climate change; chemical pollution, physical and biological habitat degradation; effects of fisheries; ozone depletion and UV-B radiation; Arctic issues; disease and mortality events; and the impact of noise, may prove to the greatest peril to the viability of many cetacean species in this century. This article focuses on the possible impact of one of these factors, climate change, on cetacean species. Climate change could prove to be a grave threat to the food supply of cetacean species in the Antarctic and Arctic, and other manifestations of warming, including eutrophication and increased runoff of pollutants from coastal areas as a consequence of increased storm activity, could also threaten species throughout the world. While the International Whaling Commission has developed a research program to assess impacts, it is woefully under funded and the Commission lacks political influence in the primary forum to address climate change, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The paper suggests ways that the IWC might be able to ameliorate climate change impacts, and other relevant regimes where the IWC may seek to protect the interests of cetaceans.

Keywords:

International Whaling Commission; International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, Climate Change; Krill

Tore Schweder, Distortion of Uncertainty in Science: Antarctic Fin Whales in the 1950s

Abstract:

In the 1950s, the majority of scientists in the International Whaling Commission (IWC) argued that the fin whale was overexploited in the Southern Hemisphere. However, several other scientists throughout the period persistently objected to this view. The scientific controversy attendant to this issue engendered great uncertainty. This uncertainty contributed towards extending the period of excessive whaling, and nearly destroyed the IWC. This paper reviews the fin whale debate in detail, puts the debate in a political perspective, and argues that the intentional injection of controversy for non-scientific reasons in decision-making forums, which the author terms “distortion of uncertainty,” constitutes an act of scientific misconduct.

Keywords:

Fin whales; International Whaling Commission; Southern Hemisphere;

Norway.

Documents

[European] Commission adopts Communication on Precautionary Principle

Essential Ingredients in an Ecosystem Approach to the Conservation of Tropical Wildland Biodiversity, Address to SBSTTA [Subsidiary Body for Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice] for COP 5, Montreal, 1 Feb 2000 by Daniel H. Janzen, Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania.