The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling is an international agreement (see environmental agreement) signed in 1946 designed to make whaling sustainable. It governs the commercial, scientific, and aboriginal subsistence whaling practices of
fifty-nine member nations.
It was signed by 42 nations in Washington, D.C. on December 2 1946 and took effect on November
10 1948. Its protocol (which represented the first substantial revision of the convention
and extended the definition of a "whale-catcher" to include helicopters as well as ships) was
signed in Washington on November 19 1956. The convention is a
successor to the International Agreement for the Regulation of Whaling, signed in London on June 8 1937, and the
protocols for that agreement signed in London on June 24 1938, and
November 26, 1945.
Objectives are protection of all whale species from overhunting, establishment of a system of
international regulation for the whale fisheries to ensure proper conservation and development of whale stocks, and safeguarding
for future generations the great natural resources represented by whale stocks. The primary instrument through which these aims
were followed was the establishment of the International Whaling
Commission. The commission has made many revisions to the schedule that makes up the bulk of the convention, reflecting
changing economical, ecological and commercial standards.
Signatories
Nations signed up to the convention are Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria,
Brazil, Chile, China (seat
originally belonged to the Republic of China but was replaced by People's Republic of China upon the PRC's entrance into the United Nations), Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominica,
Finland, France, Germany,
Grenada, Guinea, India,
Ireland, Italy, Japan,
Kenya, South Korea, Mexico,
Monaco, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway,
Oman, Panama, Peru, Russia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint
Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Solomon Islands, South
Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States.
References
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