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Resolution on Canadian Membership to the IWC

Document type
Resolution
Reference number
1998-13
Date
May 16, 1998
Source
UNEP, InforMEA
Status
Adopted
Subject
Wild species & ecosystems, Sea
Treaty
International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (Dec 2, 1946)
Meeting
50th Meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC50)
Website
crm.iwc.int
Abstract

WHEREAS Canada withdrew from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1982, stating “it no
longer has any direct interest in the whaling industry or in the related activities of the IWC”;

NOTING that Canadian representation has been limited to Observer Status at annual IWC meetings since then;
WHEREAS Canada issued its first license to take one bowhead whale in 1991 in the western Arctic from the
Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort bowhead whale stock and then has continued to issue such licenses on a regular
basis;

WHEREAS Canada issued its first license to take one bowhead whale in 1996 from the Hudson Bay-Foxe
Basin stock and one whale was landed;

WHEREAS the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board has again requested that the Government of Canada
authorize the landing of one bowhead whale from the Davis Strait/Baffin Bay stock;

NOW THEREFORE THE COMMISSION:
Reaffirms its opposition to all whaling not conducted under the International Convention for the Regulation of
Whaling (ICRW);

Invites the Government of Canada to rejoin the IWC and, in the meantime, not to issue further licenses for any
whaling not conducted under the ICRW.