ABSTRACT
The objective of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, administered by the International Whaling Commission (IWC), is to establish regulations for the purposes of conservation and utilization of whale resources. The Convention was adopted in 1946 and came into force in 1948, the first meeting of the International Whaling Commission being held in 1949. Most Antarctic whaling nations therefore closed down their pelagic whaling operations that, during this period, were only conducted by the Soviet Union and Japan. The more conservation-oriented approach was also due to a gradual increase in non-whaling members as the IWC was open to all states. The anti-whalers have a simple explanation for this development: active recruitment by Japan, believed to link its bilateral aid to recruitment and subsequent voting. The political momentum in the IWC has been strongly reduced and the whaling issue has virtually disappeared from the international political agenda.
