Records of the International Whaling Commission

Records of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) relating to the conservation of whale stocks.

Copies of the original schedule to the Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, and subsequent amendments to it, are in DG 8. Annual and technical reports of the IWC are in DG 2. Records of the IWC's meetings and those of its committees, with records of the 1945 International Whaling Conference, are in DG 3; digital records in DG 12. Files of the International Observer Scheme are in DG 4. Statistics are in DG 5. Records of the International Decades of Cetacean Research are in DG 7. Circular Communications are in DG 10 and The Journal of Cetacean Research and Management in DG 11.

from 1983 International Whaling Commission

Topics

Fishing

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) was created under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, which was signed in Washington on 2 December 1946. The 1945 International Whaling Conference, acted as a forerunner to the Commission in amending legislation regarding the regulation of whaling. The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling was concluded in order to provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and to co-ordinate development of the whaling industry. Membership of the commission is open to any government willing to adhere formally to the convention.

The main function of the IWC is to keep under review, and revise as necessary, the measures governing the conduct of whaling which are laid down in the schedule to the convention. These measures provide for the complete protection of certain species of whale; designate areas of ocean as whale sanctuaries; set maximum catches; prescribe seasons and areas for whaling; fix size limits above and below which certain species may not be killed; prohibit the capture of suckling calves, lactating females, and females accompanied by calves; and require the compilation of catch reports and other statistical and biological records.

The IWC also encourages, co-ordinates, and funds research on whales and promotes studies into related matters such as the humaneness of the killing operation, the ethics of killing cetaceans, and the management of subsistence whaling. This research has included the International Decades of Cetacean Research (1975-1995), which conducted in-depth studies of whale populations in the southern hemisphere, and also recorded other related environmental information, such as temperatures and ice-edge conditions. From 1979 the IWC's Technical Committee established Working Groups to deal with specific topics.