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International Cooperation and Whales

It was the League of Nations, formed at the end of World War I, that initiated the first international cooperation in the matter of whaling. The goal then was to return depleted whale stocks to commercial viability. To that end, three whales, the bowhead, the southern right and the gray were granted worldwide protection in the 1930s, and the International Bureau of Whaling Statistics was established to track whale kills. It was not enough. With whale populations continuing to decline, the world’s whaling nations took decisive action in 1946 as the rebuilding of a peaceful world was getting underway. Held in Washington DC, the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling brought together representatives of the fifteen countries with once whale-rich coastal waters that stood the most to lose. Though they didn’t know it then, their efforts would eventually take up the cause of whales instead of whalers.

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International Cooperation and Whales

It was a time when global environmentalism didn’t exist, and neither did whale watching in Argentina or anywhere else as an industry. These nations’ primary goal was to stabilize the economies of both winners and losers in the aftermath of World War II. The assembled represented all continents. From the northern hemisphere were six European nations (Denmark, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Norway and the Soviet Union), the U.S. and Canada. From the southern hemisphere were Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and four South American countries whose borders comprised virtually the entire continental coastline, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru.

The original treaty governed whaling activities conducted by ship and was then amended to include commercial whaling operations undertaken by air. Article III established the International Whaling Commission as the governing body to carry out the principles of the treaty that would take affect two years later. The commission was to be composed of one representative of each of the signatory nations. Article VIII left the door open to allow nations to grant permits to kill scientific research, stipulating open seasons of set duration with catch limits. Article XI allowed governments one opportunity per year to opt out of the treaty. Exclusions honored aboriginal whale hunting rights.

After adjournment, as representatives shook hands and said their good-byes that December day, they undoubtedly were relieved, knowing they could report back to their respective commanders-in-chief that the future stocks of whales had been secured, and in a way they were right. Decades before whale watching had become a reason to travel to Argentina or anyone was spending vacations on Antarctica tours, the world was about to change.

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