Whales at a Crossroads: The Battle for the Future of the IWC

Later this month, representatives of the world’s governments will gather in Hobart, Australia, for the 70th meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). The meeting begins on 27 September, with five days of plenary discussions following from 28 September to 2 October.

It comes at a pivotal moment. The IWC is marking its 80th anniversary, while 2026 also represents 40 years since its moratorium on commercial whaling came into force.

The moratorium is widely regarded as one of the great achievements of modern conservation. It brought the relentless industrial slaughter of many whale populations to a halt, giving some a chance to begin the long process of recovery.

The IWC has evolved too. Once principally concerned with regulating how many whales could be killed, it now addresses threats including entanglement, vessel strikes, underwater noise, pollution and marine debris. Its scientific and conservation work reaches far beyond whaling.

Yet the argument over commercial hunting has never disappeared.

At IWC70, Antigua and Barbuda will lead a draft resolution proposing a new task force that would revisit the machinery used to calculate commercial whaling quotas. It is supported by Palau, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia and Togo, alongside an unusually undefined “group that support the sustainable use of marine living resources”.

The carefully spun language is significant. The resolution does not explicitly demand that commercial whaling resume, but conservation organisations warn that the process it proposes could provide a route towards precisely that outcome. Similar initiatives were brought forward in 2022 and 2024, but failed to progress.

There is also a striking contradiction at the centre of the proposal. Antigua and Barbuda has never conducted commercial whaling. Neither has Togo. Nevertheless, the resolution claims that sustainable whaling can support food security, livelihoods and poverty reduction - arguments that are curiously similar to those being deployed by Japan and Norway as part of their renewed efforts to justify the inexcusable.  

Now, voices from within the countries concerned are beginning to challenge that argument.

The newly formed West and Central African Coalition for Whales brings together more than 200 scientists, conservationists, current and former government officials and other regional experts. Its members argue that whale meat has no significant cultural or food security role across the region. Coastal communities face genuine and urgent problems, but these are driven by overfishing, illegal fishing, bycatch and the degradation of marine habitats, not by whales consuming fish.

In Antigua and Barbuda, a growing domestic campaign is asking equally difficult questions. A recent national poll found that 64 per cent of residents oppose commercial whaling, while 60 per cent oppose their government advancing a proposal that could help bring it back. More than two thirds were unaware that their country supported commercial whaling at the IWC.

These developments expose a deeper issue. Decisions at the IWC are made in the name of nations, but they do not necessarily reflect the priorities, traditions or opinions of the people living within them. Longstanding concerns about aid, diplomatic influence and coordinated voting blocs also raise questions about whose interests some positions ultimately serve.

IWC70 will therefore be about more than one resolution. It will test whether the Commission continues its transformation into a modern conservation body, capable of confronting the immense pressures whales now face, or allows itself to be pulled back towards the industry it was originally created to regulate.

Throughout September, ORCA will be looking more closely at the IWC, the people shaping its decisions and the political currents beneath the surface. Some of those stories are inspiring. Others are considerably more concerning.