A majority for protection. Still no sanctuary for South Atlantic whales.

Governments have again failed to agree a South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary, despite clear majority support. The outcome exposes the political obstacles to stronger protection, while progress elsewhere at the International Whaling Commission shows why its work remains essential.

Thirty-nine votes in favour. Eighteen against. And still no sanctuary. So how come? 

At the International Whaling Commission’s meeting in Hobart, which concluded on 2 October, the sanctuary proposed by Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay failed to secure the three quarters majority required for adoption. Those voting against included Norway and Antigua and Barbuda. Another opportunity to strengthen whale protection slipped away. Or to be more accurate, sunk by vested interests. 

The proposal concerned the South Atlantic, but its significance reaches into the Southern Ocean. A sanctuary around Antarctica has existed since 1994, prohibiting commercial whaling across important whale feeding grounds. Many whales, however, travel far beyond those waters to breed and give birth. The IWC’s Scientific Committee has highlighted the absence of equivalent sanctuary protection at lower latitudes across much of the Southern Hemisphere.

A South Atlantic sanctuary would help close that gap, establishing lasting regional protection against commercial whaling while supporting research, international cooperation and responsible whale watching. Its rejection does not overturn the existing Southern Ocean Sanctuary or the global commercial whaling moratorium. It leaves an additional layer of protection unrealised.

Sanctuaries cannot, by themselves, protect whales from every danger. Climate change, vessel collisions and entanglement require further action. But they provide a foundation for conservation, and a focus for the research needed to understand how whale populations are recovering and where they remain vulnerable.

Hobart also delivered progress. Governments adopted resolutions addressing vessel strikes, strandings and cetacean bycatch associated with fisheries supplying the fish maw trade. A separate proposal promoting the sustainable use of whale resources was withdrawn.

For ORCA, these contrasting outcomes underline the challenge ahead. International cooperation can deliver practical measures to protect whales, yet a minority of governments can still prevent a widely supported sanctuary from becoming reality.

The sanctuary vote is a setback, but it will be achieved one day. It is also a reason to keep pressing governments to turn support for whale conservation into lasting protection. Whales need that commitment throughout their journeys, wherever those journeys take them.