III 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. CON. RES. 33 

Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding the policy of the United 

States at the 57th Annual Meeting of the International Whaling Commission. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 16, 2005 

Ms. SNOWE (for herself, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. 

MCCAIN, Mr. LIEBERMAN, Mr. KERRY, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. BIDEN, Mr. 

JEFFORDS, Mr. DODD, Mr. LAUTENBERG, Mr. REED, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. 

PRYOR, Mrs. BOXER, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, and Mr. AKAKA) submitted the 

following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 

Foreign Relations 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding the policy 

of the United States at the 57th Annual Meeting of 

the International Whaling Commission. 

Whereas whales have very low reproductive rates, making 

many whale populations extremely vulnerable to pressure 

from commercial whaling; 

Whereas whales migrate throughout the world’s oceans and 

international cooperation is required to successfully conserve and protect whale stocks; 

Whereas in 1946 a significant number of the nations of the 

world adopted the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, which established the International 
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Whaling Commission to provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks; 

Whereas in 2003 the Commission established a Conservation 

Committee, open to all members of the Commission, for 

the purpose of facilitating efficient and effective coordination and development of conservation recommendations 

and activities, which are fully consistent with the conservation objectives stated in the 1946 Convention; 

Whereas the Commission adopted a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1982 in order to conserve and promote 

the recovery of whale stocks, many of which had been 

hunted to near extinction by the commercial whaling industry; 

Whereas the rights of indigenous people to whale for subsistence purposes have been specifically recognized under the 

1946 Convention; 

Whereas the Commission has designated the Indian Ocean 

and part of the ocean around Antarctica as whale sanctuaries to further enhance the recovery of whale stocks; 

Whereas many nations of the world have designated waters 

under their jurisdiction as whale sanctuaries where commercial whaling is prohibited, and additional regional 

whale sanctuaries have been proposed by nations that are 

members of the Commission; 

Whereas two member nations that lodged objections to the 

Commission’s moratorium on commercial whaling when it 

was adopted continue to hold such objections, a third 

member nation asserted a reservation to the moratorium 

on rejoining the Commission, and one member nation is 

currently conducting commercial whaling operations in 
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spite of the moratorium and the protests of other nations; 

Whereas the Commission has adopted several resolutions at 

recent meetings asking member nations to halt commercial whaling activities conducted under reservation to the 

moratorium and to refrain from issuing special permits 

for research involving the killing of whales; 

Whereas one member nation of the Commission has taken a 

reservation to the Commission’s Southern Ocean Sanctuary and also continues to conduct unnecessary lethal 

scientific whaling in the Southern Ocean and in the 

North Pacific Ocean; 

Whereas one member nation has recently begun to conduct 

unnecessary lethal scientific whaling in the Atlantic; 

Whereas whale meat and blubber is being sold commercially 

from whales killed pursuant to such unnecessary lethal 

scientific whaling, further undermining the moratorium 

on commercial whaling; 

Whereas the Commission’s Scientific Committee has repeatedly expressed serious concerns about the scientific need 

for such lethal research and recognizes the importance of 

demonstrating and expanding the use of non-lethal scientific research methods; 

Whereas more than 8,700 whales have been killed in lethal 

scientific whaling programs since the adoption of the 

commercial whaling moratorium and the lethal take of 

whales under scientific permits has increased both in 

quantity and species, with species now including minke, 

Bryde’s, sei, and sperm whales, and media reports indicate a new plan may be offered that could expand such 

whaling to fin and humpback whales; 
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Whereas engaging in commercial whaling under reservation 

and lethal scientific whaling undermines the conservation 

program of the Commission; 

Whereas discussions are taking place within the Commission 

on a Revised Management Scheme (RMS) that would 

regulate any possible future commercial whaling; 

Whereas any decision to lift the moratorium against commercial whaling must be taken independently from negotiations and adoption of an RMS; 

Whereas any RMS must include or be conditioned on the concurrent adoption of provisions similar to those in other 

international agreements related to fisheries and marine 

mammals, including transparent and neutral observer 

mechanisms, and effective compliance and dispute settlement mechanisms; 

Whereas to be effective, if an RMS is adopted, any future 

commercial whaling must take place pursuant to the 

RMS, and no reservations allowing commercial whaling 

outside of the RMS should be permitted; and 

Whereas any decision to lift the moratorium against commercial whaling must be conditioned on the immediate cessation of lethal scientific whaling: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, by the Senate (the House of Representatives 

2 concurring) That it is the sense of the Congress that— 

3 (1) at the 57th Annual Meeting of the Inter4 national Whaling Commission the United States 

5 should— 

6 (A) remain firmly opposed to commercial 

7 whaling and any linking of adoption of a Re-
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1 vised Management Scheme (RMS) to the lifting 

2 of the commercial whaling moratorium; 

3 (B) initiate and support efforts to ensure 

4 that all activities conducted under reservations 

5 to the Commission’s moratorium or sanctuaries 

6 are ceased; 

7 (C) seek to ensure that any RMS includes, 

8 or is conditioned on the concurrent adoption of 

9 provisions similar to those in other international 

10 agreements related to fisheries and marine 

11 mammals, including transparent and neutral 

12 observer mechanisms, and effective compliance 

13 and dispute settlement mechanisms; 

14 (D) insist that any future commercial 

15 whaling must take place pursuant to the RMS, 

16 that no reservations allowing commercial whal17 ing outside of the RMS should be permitted, 

18 and that lethal scientific whaling must imme19 diately cease upon the commencement of any 

20 commercial whaling; 

21 (E) uphold the rights of indigenous people 

22 to whale for subsistence purposes, and firmly 

23 reject any attempts to compromise such rights 

24 or to equate commercial whaling with such 

25 rights; 
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1 (F) initiate or support efforts to end the 

2 lethal taking of whales for scientific purposes, 

3 seek support for expanding the use of non-le4 thal research methods, and seek to end the sale 

5 of whale meat and blubber from whales killed 

6 for unnecessary lethal scientific research; 

7 (G) support proposals for the permanent 

8 protection of whale populations through the es9 tablishment of whale sanctuaries and other 

10 zones of protection in which commercial whal11 ing is prohibited; 

12 (H) support efforts to expand data collec13 tion on whale populations, monitor and reduce 

14 whale bycatch and other incidental impacts, and 

15 otherwise expand whale conservation efforts; 

16 (I) support the adoption of an active pro17 gram of work by the Conservation Committee to 

18 address the full range of threats to whales, and 

19 otherwise expand whale conservation efforts; 

20 and 

21 (J) call upon the Contracting Parties to 

22 the Convention to submit to the Commission for 

23 discussion within the Conservation Committee 

24 national approaches, including laws, regulations 
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1 and other initiatives, that further the conserva2 tion of cetaceans; and 

3 (2) the United States should make full use of 

4 all appropriate diplomatic mechanisms, Federal law, 

5 relevant international laws and agreements, and 

6 other appropriate mechanisms to implement the 

7 goals set forth in paragraph (1). 

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