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The International Whaling Regime and American Foreign Policy
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Abstract
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In 1946 the United States joined 15 nations in signing the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. Under the Convention, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) was created to regulate an industry facing declining demand for whale oil and severe depletion of some whale populations. By the mid-1960s, the focus of the IWC became increasingly preservation-oriented, with fewer nations engaged in whaling and with the addition of new non-whaling members to the Convention. This focus led to the polarization of member nations within the IWC, with those favoring protection of whales conflicting with those in favor of conservation measures and continued consumptive and non-consumptive uses. By the mid-1980s these conflicts peaked when the IWC placed a ban on commercial whaling. That ban is still in effect, although the IWC, with U.S. support, permits aboriginal whaling. In Chapter 10, Kristen Fletcher shows how the United States has maintained a stance against commercial whaling, seeking a permanent ban even though international support and science seem to be swaying toward sustainable commercial harvests. As whale populations improve and the worldˇ¦s whaling policies change, Fletcher argues that U.S. foreign policy must evolve with them. This conclusion is extremely disturbing for those who wish to see whales protected in perpetuity. Nevertheless, her chapter shows how the U.S. reaction to these international challenges illuminates U.S. whaling policy in particular and its other international environmental policies more generally.