Resolution on Whaling of highly endangered Bowhead Whales in the Eastern Canadian Arctic

IWC Resolution 2000-2
Resolution on Whaling of highly endangered Bowhead Whales in the Eastern Canadian Arctic
WHEREAS the 52nd meeting of the Scientific Committee concluded that the Davis Strait and the Hudson Bay-
Foxe Basin bowhead whale stocks are two distinct and separate populations, both of which number in the low
hundreds;
CONSIDERING THAT the Government of Canada withdrew from the IWC in 1982 but continues to allow the
taking of bowhead whales in the Eastern Canadian Arctic;
CONCERNED THAT the Government of Canada has agreed to grant one license if requested from the Nunavut
Wildlife Management Board to take one bowhead whale from the Hudson Bay-Foxe Basin stock in 2000-2001;
WHEREAS the IWC is concerned about whaling not conducted under the International Convention for the
Regulation of Whaling (1946);
NOTING THAT the Government of Canada has been notified of IWC Resolutions 1996-9, 1998-13 and 1999-7,
each of which calls for refraining from issuing permits to hunt either highly endangered bowhead whale stocks in
the Eastern Canadian Arctic;
FURTHER NOTING THAT Canada is signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
(1982) which under Article 65 (Marine Mammals) requires that States co-operate through the appropriate
international organizations for the conservation, management and study of cetaceans;
NOW THEREFORE THE COMMISSION:
REAFFIRMS its opposition to whaling conducted on highly endangered stocks of whales;
EXPRESSES particular concern that whaling activities in the Eastern Canadian Arctic are ongoing outside the
control of the IWC;
URGES the Government of Canada to refrain from issuing a license for the taking of one bowhead whale from
the Hudson Bay-Foxe Basin population;
INVITES the Government of Canada to rejoin the IWC and, in the meantime, not to issue further whaling
permits;
REQUESTS THAT the Secretariat transmit the text of this Resolution to the Government of Canada.