Resolution 2000-5

IWC Resolution 2000-5
Resolution on Whaling under Special Permit In The North Pacific Ocean
WHEREAS Paragraph 1 of Article VIII of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling
(Convention) provides that, notwithstanding anything contained in the Convention, any Contracting Government
may grant to any of its nationals a Special Permit (Special Permit) authorising that national to kill, take and treat
whales for the purposes of scientific research, subject to such other conditions as the Government thinks fit;
RECALLING previous IWC Resolutions on whaling under Special Permit adopted by the Commission (1996-7,
1997-5, 1998-4, and 1999-3) and in particular Resolution 1995-9, in which the Commission recommended that
scientific research involving the killing of cetaceans should only be permitted in exceptional circumstances
where the questions address critically important issues which cannot be answered by the analysis of existing data
and/or use of non-lethal research techniques;
RECALLING also that in 1997 the Commission affirmed that the JARPN programme did not address critically
important research needs for the management of whaling in the North Pacific Ocean;
WHEREAS Paragraph 30 of the Schedule to the Convention provides that all proposed Special Permits be
reviewed by the Scientific Committee, and that IWC Resolution 1999-2 specifically requested the Scientific
Committee to provide advice on this to the Commission;
NOTING the Government of Japan’s proposal to instigate in 2000 the JARPN II programme, under which takes
of minke whales, and, for the first time, takes of sperm and Bryde's whales, would be authorized;
FURTHER NOTING the many major concerns expressed and not allayed during the 52nd meeting of the
Scientific Committee, including (among others) concerns that the proposal did not address questions of high
priority relevant to management, did not make full use of existing data, and revealed many methodological
problems;
NOTING, in particular, that the Scientific Committee did not endorse the JARPN II proposal;
NOW THEREFORE THE COMMISSION:
AFFIRMS that gathering information on interactions between whales and prey species is not a critically
important issue which justifies the killing of whales for research purposes;
PROPOSES that information on stock structure, which may be relevant to management, be obtained using non-
lethal means;
STRONGLY URGES the Government of Japan to refrain from issuing special permits for whaling under
JARPN II.