How many countries in the iwc are engaged in whaling

A small number of countries with indigenous populations claim the hunting and killing of whales is integral to their culture. Whaling that the IWC considers "aboriginal subsistence whaling" is not subject to the moratorium. The IWC says "it is the responsibility of national governments to provide the commission with evidence of the cultural and subsistence needs of their people". Greenland, for example, is permitted to hunt bowhead, minke, humpback and fin whales claiming a cultural connection.

Furthermore a smaller part of the hunt is processed, according to EU veterinary standards, in two localities in Greenland, in order to cover the needs of those local communities, not having access to their own whaling vessel or those communities having a meat deficit. No whale products are exported out of the Kingdom," the Greenland ministry of Fisheries, Hunting and Agriculture says.

There are also countries that are not members of the IWC that conduct whaling in line with cultural practices. Canadian Inuit communities hunt bow and beluga whales for food. Presently, they are taken only for food by the Inuit," the Canadian government's Department of Fisheries and Oceans says of beluga.

Beluga whales are not covered by the IWC, as they are classed as small cetaceans. In , Canadian Inuits killed three bow whales. Indonesia is also home to communities that continue to hunt and kill whales for local consumption.

According to Indonesia's tourism website , between 15 and 20 sperm whales are killed during their annual migration. And in South Korea - a member of the IWC with a ban on whaling - 21 whales were killed illegally in Japan conducts what it says are scientific whaling programs in the northern and southern hemispheres.

Japan is still able to carry out its scientific program in the North Pacific ocean, but is not allowed to hunt and kill whales using the JARPA II scientific program in southern waters anymore. Over the life of the program, Japan has killed thousands of whales - including around 3, minke whales, the most commonly caught across whaling programs. The ICJ's ruling stopping Japan from continuing with its Antarctic whaling program found the killing of whales through the program was not necessarily scientific.

The annual quota for minke is For fin and humpback it is 50 each, but Japan does not kill the full quota every year. Currently only Norway and Iceland conduct commercial whaling activities, but under IWC regulations four other countries have aboriginal subsistence whaling exemptions. Indonesia and Canada, who are not members of the IWC, also allow some whaling for cultural reasons and South Korea has recent infractions for illegal whaling.

The IWC also regulates aboriginal subsistence whaling. Currently, the Commission permits this activity on certain whale stocks harvested by the indigenous communities from Denmark Greenland , the Russian Federation, St.

Vincent and the Grenadines, and the United States. Subject to domestic legal requirements, the U. The Convention places a strong emphasis on scientific advice. Japan and Iceland are the only two countries that currently use this provision. Japan has been engaged in scientific whaling since , a year after the IWC moratorium on commercial whaling began.

Iceland recently began "scientific whaling" in before resuming their commerical hunt in These countries claim that the catches are essential to obtain necessary information for research and future cetacean management.

More detailed information on the number of whales killed since the IWC moratorium began in Letter to Japan government on whaling. The rise in scientific whaling from to International trade in whale meat Re-opening the international trade in whale meat and blubber is likely to provide an incentive for increased whaling, resulting in more nations resuming whaling and ultimately to more whales being taken.

Even a limited legal trade in whale meat could encourage "pirate" whalers to step up unregulated whaling operations.

Thus, Norway presented an objection to the moratorium, while Iceland left the IWC, only to return with questionable reservation to the moratorium in Japan also presented an objection to the moratorium, but then withdrew the objection and began to hunt whales with the argument of conducting science.

This is because Article VIII of the convention allows hunting for scientific purposes the agreement was written in the forties, when the current technology did not exist and the member countries of the IWC have not garnered the necessary votes to eliminate said article, given that many African, Caribbean, and Asian countries support the Japanese cause.

A notorious example is Mongolia, a country that supports whaling in the IWC, even without having a direct relationship with the activity. According to Leslie, "since , Japan's scientific hunting programs have killed more than 16, animals. Since the moratorium was implemented, the Government of Japan has also requested quotas from the IWC to do a "small-scale" hunt on its coasts.