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The International Whaling Commission (IWC) currently designates two whale sanctuaries: the Indian Ocean Sanctuary and the Southern Ocean Sanctuary. The direct protection the IWC identifies for both is a prohibition on commercial whaling. The Southern Ocean Sanctuary also has conservation, research and monitoring objectives, but neither designation should be read as a ban on every activity that can harm whales.
What an IWC whale sanctuary means
An IWC sanctuary is an area designated through the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. The Convention’s Schedule contains legally binding regulations adopted by the Commission, including sanctuary designations; changing the Schedule requires a three-quarters majority of the Commission. The IWC identifies the exact sanctuary coordinates in paragraphs 7(a) and 7(b) of the Schedule. See the IWC’s Whale Sanctuaries & Marine Protected Areas page and History and Purpose.
Which IWC sanctuaries exist today?
| Sanctuary | Status and date | Broad location | What the IWC material establishes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indian Ocean Sanctuary | Established in 1979 | Indian Ocean south to 55°S | The IWC identifies it as a current sanctuary prohibiting commercial whaling. Exact boundaries are specified in Schedule paragraph 7(a). |
| Southern Ocean Sanctuary | Adopted in 1994 | Waters of the Southern Ocean around Antarctica | The IWC identifies it as a current sanctuary prohibiting commercial whaling. Exact boundaries are specified in Schedule paragraph 7(b); it also has a management plan with conservation and research objectives. |
The Southern Ocean Sanctuary’s northern boundary partly coincides with the Indian Ocean Sanctuary’s southern boundary. The IWC management plan says the combined coverage provides a high level of protection from future commercial whaling by IWC member states for great-whale populations that breed in the Indian Ocean. These broad descriptions are not substitutes for the Schedule’s precise coordinates. Sources: IWC sanctuary overview and Southern Ocean Sanctuary Management Plan, revised August 2018.
What protection do the sanctuaries provide?
The direct rule: no commercial whaling
The IWC describes the core legal protection in both sanctuaries as a prohibition on commercial whaling. That is the clearest specific restriction established by the Commission’s overview. It should not be expanded into a claim that every kind of whaling, or every human activity affecting whales, is prohibited.
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Additional Southern Ocean goals
The Southern Ocean Sanctuary’s management plan sets broader objectives supported by research, monitoring and cooperation. These include contributing to the rehabilitation of a whale-depleted marine ecosystem; securing satisfactory habitat for cetaceans and other marine life; helping protect at least one population of each great whale through its migratory range and life cycle in combination with the Indian Ocean Sanctuary; collecting reference information on unexploited and recovering populations; monitoring ecosystem recovery without further commercial whaling; studying environmental change; assessing the effects of zero catch limits; and allowing phased application of the IWC’s Revised Management Procedure in limited ranges and species.
Those are management objectives, not evidence that every objective has already been achieved or that all threats are legally controlled by the sanctuary. The plan organizes research and action, and describes its purpose as informing the Commission and public about objectives and planned actions while proposing strategies and performance measures.
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What the designation does not cover
The Southern Ocean management plan considers threats including by-catch and entanglement, vessel collisions, climate change and ocean acidification, marine pollution, fisheries competition and marine noise. It describes research, monitoring, information-sharing and cooperation with other bodies as part of the response. It also recognizes that many actions needed for success fall outside the IWC’s regulatory competence. The designation is therefore not a comprehensive marine protected area that, by itself, bans fishing, shipping, pollution or other impacts.
Does an IWC sanctuary stop all whaling?
No. The sanctuary rule identified by the IWC is specifically a commercial-whaling prohibition. Separately, the IWC says commercial whaling has been subject to a moratorium since 1986, but some member states conduct commercial whaling under an objection or reservation, and countries outside the IWC are not within the Commission’s framework. Special-permit, or scientific, whaling is regulated by the government issuing the permit; the IWC’s role is advisory. The IWC’s general information does not establish every enforcement detail for every state or vessel in every sanctuary location. For the distinctions among categories, see the Commission’s Whaling page.
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Is the South Atlantic a whale sanctuary?
Not under the IWC’s current designations. The proposed South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary has been submitted repeatedly but has not received the three-quarters majority needed to amend the Convention Schedule. The Commission first discussed the proposal in 1998; it was first evaluated in 2001 and not adopted. The IWC’s sanctuary overview describes its status.
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