International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling

International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling is an international environmental agreement which governs the commercial, scientific, and aboriginal subsistence whaling practices of fifty-nine member nations. It was signed in 1946.

• By this convention, International Whaling Commission (IWC) was set up to “provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry”.
• This organization has been active against the commercial whaling.
• In 1986, it adopted a moratorium on commercial whaling . This ban still continues.
• In 1994, it created the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary surrounding the continent of Antarctica. Here, the IWC has banned all types of commercial whaling.
• Only two such sanctuaries have been designated by IWC till date. Another is Indian Ocean Whale Sanctuary by the tiny island nation of the Seychelles.