Amid the current situation of review of the future of the IWC, and as many people had guessed would happened, this meeting passed without many expectations about possible results in this negotiation process that was extended for another year, but in which very important measurements for cetaceans’ conservation, particularly for the Southern Hemisphere, came up.
During the year that went by between the 60th IWC and this new IWC meeting, there were many intersessional meetings, which tried to agree a package of measures that would be discussed during the plenary meeting in Madeira, however, not many advances were achieved and no solution was specifically reached. At the end, by a consensus decision, the member countries agreed to extend the period of negotiation on the Future of the IWC, at least until the 62nd IWC to be held in Agadir, Morocco. In addition to that, they decided to create a new Working Group in which the Buenos Aires Group (GBA) will be represented by Brazil, and this new group will work in the new stage in cooperation with a Supporting Group (in which our region will be represented by Brazil and Mexico), whose aim is to generate a proposal that then will be analized and discussed by the Parties of the IWC for its subsequent presentation in Plenary sessions in 2010. In this new stage, Whaling under special permits ("Scientific whaling”), Sanctuaries, Japanese Coastal whaling and Whalewatching - non-lethal use of cetaceans will still be included as key points, known for their conflicts.

As for other items that were supposed to generate conflict, such as the request from Greenland for a quota of catch of 10 Humpback whales for West Greenland, after hearing scientific explanations, voices in favor of the proposal, and the silence of the European Union, the discussions on this topic were postponed for an intersessional meeting to be held before the end of this year, a decision that is highly questioned by the conservationist NGOs that followed what happened at the meeting.

Regarding issues related to cetaceans’ conservation, during the meeting, several achievements can be recognized:
Australia officially introduced SORP (Southern Ocean Research Partnership), a multinational alliance related with large whales, Sperm whales and Orcas in the Southern Hemisphere that contemplates the execution of scientific studies in a coordinated and integrated way, which would turn the Southern Hemisphere into a giant non-lethal research center. With regard to this matter, the Advisor Javier Figueroa (Alternate Commissioner from Argentina) said: "Argentina is part of this program and it has participated since its inception. It is currently a member of the Executive Committee, and we expect a very active participation through our research programs, primarily with regard to the Southern Right whale”

Among other measures achieved, a Workshop on Climate Change and Small Cetaceans was agreed to be conducted next November of which our country will be part of the Executive Committee.
Reference was also made specifically to Small Cetaceans (although many countries hold that the IWC has no competence over them) and a report on Ship-Strikes was submitted. In this respect, the legislation adopted in Argentina was treated. This was prepared by the Prefectura Naval Argentina, to reduce the number of collisions between ships and Southern right whales in the area of Peninsula Valdés, Chubut Province, during the breeding season of this species in Patagonian waters.

Regarding to matters related with Whale watching, another topic that has gained strength within the IWC because of its importance for the economic development of coastal communities and the non-lethal use of cetaceans, a working group integrated by Australia, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina was created as part of an initiative of the Conservation Committee. The first measure of this group would be to conduct a workshop on whale watching, in 2010, with the aim of developing a 5-year program and Argentina offered to host it.

The Conservation Committee had originally great resistance from some Member Countries at the time of its implementation in 2003 under the so-called "Berlin Initiative", however its agenda has been increasing over time. If an analysis of achievements over the past years since its creation is done, you can clearly see that its agenda has been expanding over time and it contains topics referring to the management of cetaceans and their problems which broadly demonstrate the importance of the Conservation Committee within the framework of the IWC.

Another of the big event of this meeting was the return of the Chair of the IWC to Latin America, after the election of Ambassador Cristian Maquieira (Chile) as Chairman, and Anthony Liverpool (Antigua and Barbuda) as Vice President. In this respect the new Chair linked his appointment with recognition to the work done by the Buenos Aires Group. This group, born in 2005, has had a tough conservationist stance, ratifying the moratorium on commercial whaling and non-lethal use of cetaceans, and against scientific whaling. This reflects the relevance that the Buenos Aires Group has achieved within the IWC.
Fundación Cethus was present at this meeting, participating not only as an Observer NGO represented by Vanesa Tossenberger thanks to the support from various organizations such as CSI, IFAW and WDCS, but also with the privilege that one of its members, Miguel Iñiguez, was part of the Argentinian Delegation to the IWC, as he has done since 2002. For us these achievements not only highlight the results of the work that we have been doing for several years, but also we feel them as a recognition for so many years of work.
For more information about the IWC, you can visit www.iwcoffice.org or www.cethus.org (where you can also find information about the every day events at the 61th IWC).
Once again we would like to thank the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Cetacean Society International (CSI) and Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS), who have made possible our presence in this 61th IWC, and collaborate with our work at different levels since many years ago.

If you want to know what happened day by day:

61º CBI - Day 1
61ª CBI - Day 2
61ª CBI - Day 3
61ª CBI - Day 4