Day Three began with a spotlight on welfare issues. The Commission gave a heartfelt standing ovation to Dr David Mattila who developed the IWC's first capacity building initiative, the Global Whale Entanglement Response Network. Dr Mattila is retiring at the end of the year ands his legacy includes some impressive statistics. Since its launch in 2012, the Entanglement Response Network has trained 1850 people from 42 countries in safe and effective entanglement response, and created a blueprint for subsequent IWC capacity building work programmes.

Countries benefitting from IWC entanglement response training since 2012.

One of these subsequent programmes is the Strandings Initiative which also reported an impressive year, delivering tailored and practical training workshops including re-floating, euthanasia and necropsy training in the Caribbean region. Another key component of the Strandings Initiative is real-time support to strandings responders and it was stressed that all member governments can benefit from the 24-hour advice available from strandings experts in locations all over the world.

Collaboration was another theme of today's sessions and the IWC signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the United Nations Environment Programme's Permanent Commission for the South Pacific (CPPS). The two organisations already collaborate on issues such as entanglement and ship strikes, and the MoU will formalise and strengthen this partnership.

The report and recommendations of the Conservation Committee were endorsed and their breadth noted. The Committee's work programmes range from three new Conservation Management Plans to bycatch, ocean noise and whale watching. Generous financial contributions were announced for the Voluntary Conservation Fund. The Government of the Netherlands contributed E20,000 and a group of ten Non-Governmental Organisations gave a collective contribution of nearly £13000, in addition to £40,000 contributed earlier in 2024.

Another extremely significant development was consensus on a budget for the next two years. Recognising both the continuing challenges of the global financial climate and the importance of keeping pace with inflation, a 3% increase was agreed. The Commission also managed to maintain the principles established via its Budget Reform Strategy, introduced two years ago to bring the Commission in-line with best financial practice.

A number of procedural and governance issues were also agreed today. These included three procedural changes designed to increase flexibility and support for governments struggling to pay their contributions.  Officers were also elected for the next biennium. The current Vice-Chair and Acting Chair of this meeting, Dr Nick Gales or Australia, was endorsed as the new IWC Chair and will be supported by Dr Urbain Brito of Benin, endorsed as the new Vice-Chair. In addition, the Commission welcomed an offer to host the next Commission meeting in two year's time from the Government of Australia.