The four day meeting of the IWC ended today with a broad and busy programme of work agreed for the two year inter-sessional period. The constructive dialogue, and commitment of member governments to reaching consensus wherever possible, was acknowledged by the Chair, Jeannine Compton-Antoine, Commissioner for St Lucia.
A Schedule Amendment was adopted regarding Greenland quotas. Resolutions were adopted on aboriginal subsistence whaling, on highly migratory cetacean species, on civil society participation and transparency at the IWC, on the Scientific Committee, and on whaling under special permit Two of these were adopted by consensus. A new welfare workplan was also adopted by consensus.
Schedule Amendments regarding the establishment of a South Atlantic whale sanctuary, and catching minke whales by small-type coastal whaling vessels, did not achieve the necessary three quarters majority vote. A Resolution on food security did not achieve consensus. Further work will be undertaken in the inter-sessional period with a view to achieving consensus at the 2016 meeting of the IWC. Finally, a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed by three of the range states for the western North Pacific gray whale population.
To view the meeting agenda, Schedule amendments, Resolutions and supporting documents are available on the IWC website at http://iwc.int/iwc65docs