Whales are intelligent, magnificent giants that have inspired awe throughout the ages.
Roughly 150 Eastern Australian humpbacks remained when the Australian government banned whaling in 1979. Today, the Eastern population is estimated at 50,000 to 60,000, and the Western Australian Humpback population is roughly 40,000.
Recovery has been slower in some species, with some whale populations remaining at a fraction of their historical numbers. Today, recovering species face a myriad of new threats of climate change, fishing gear entanglement, vessel strikes, underwater noise and plastic pollution.
Every two years, representatives from governments around the world meet at the International Whaling Commission (IWC). AMCS regularly attends the IWC as part of the Australian delegation, representing our supporters and advocating for stronger protections for whales and their habitats. We work alongside the Australian Government and other conservation organisations to influence international whale conservation decisions, address the threats facing whales and ensure their protection remains a global priority.
AMCS also calls for strong international pressure to protect whales from commercial whaling by Japan, Norway and Iceland.
1979: Australia's Fraser government banned whaling.
1982: Nations worldwide banded together to stop commercial whaling by voting for a moratorium at the International Whaling Commission (IWC). Australia and AMCS were part of this movement.
1986: The global whaling ban came into effect.
However, deep divides between pro-whaling nations like Japan, Iceland and Norway and anti-whaling countries like Australia, the UK and Brazil continued to challenge the IWC. Defying the moratorium, countries continued industrial whaling under "reservations" or under the pretence of "scientific whaling".
2010: The IWC reached crisis point, and the meeting came perilously close to approving a return to commercial whaling. AMCS was part of the international negotiations that fought off the disastrous compromise at the eleventh hour.
2013: Australia took Japan to the International Court of Justice. The momentous decision to take legal action took years of hard work campaigning behind the scenes, from AMCS and other conservation groups working with governments, lawyers and scientists to convince our leaders to take this case forward.
2014: The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled Japan's Antarctic whaling program broke international law, ending Japan's whaling in the Southern Ocean.
2015: Japan restarts lethal "research" whaling under a new program to get around the ICJ's ruling.
2016: At the 2016 IWC meeting, Australia led a landmark resolution approved by 88 nations to narrow the loophole that allows nations to kill whales for scientific research. Although the IWC has tightened this loophole, it still remains. More than 15,000 whales have been hunted by Japan in the Southern Ocean and Antarctic waters under the guise of conducting research.
2018: Japan announced its departure from the IWC, turning its back on global conservation efforts. It was unable to lift the ban on whaling. This was a significant moment because on one hand, it meant Japan's whaling fleet wouldn't return to the Southern Ocean. On the other hand, it meant Japan would restart commercial whaling in its own waters, where some of the most threatened minke whale populations live.
2019: Japan resumed commercial whaling, with an initial catch limit set by the Japanese Fisheries Agency of 150 Bryde's whales and 25 sei whales. Iceland, by contrast, did not hunt that year, as demand for whale meat had fallen (both Norway and Iceland whale in Northern Hemisphere waters). AMCS and the International Fund for Animal Welfare released a legal opinion from an international law expert showing Japan's commercial whaling opens the country to legal action. Japan's whaling is out of step with the international community, and legal opinion shows it's also out of step with international law.
2022: Five vessels engaged in whaling in Norway, catching a total of 118 minke whales. In mid-2022, the Reinefangst, a vessel owned by a former chair of the Norwegian Minke Whalers Association and a staunch defender of whaling, announced it would give up whaling. Whaling commenced again in Iceland, after a four-year hiatus.
2024: Japan added fin whales, the second largest animals on Earth, to its commercial hunt. The International Fund for Animal Welfare reports this was Japan's first commercial fin whale catch in 50 years, and that Japanese taxpayer subsidies helped fund Japan's new whaling mothership.
2025: Iceland's only fin whaling company did not hunt for a second year. Norway set a quota of 1,406 minke whales, and whalers killed 429.
2026: Japan authorised up to 412 whales, including 58 fin whales. Norway set a quota of 1,641 minke whales, 235 more than the year before. Iceland resumed fin whaling in June and killed 93 fin whales in 94 days. In February, the Icelandic government said it would introduce a bill that includes a permanent ban on whaling. Demand for whale meat continues to fall, yet three countries, Japan, Norway and Iceland, still hunt whales commercially.
Australia must continue to be a global leader in whale conservation while populations slowly recover from decades of whaling and the threat of commercial whaling remains in the northern hemisphere. Accidental strikes, plastic pollution, ocean noise from seismic testing, entanglement in nets and, in parts of the northern hemisphere, commercial whaling still threaten our whales.
We must demand new whale sanctuaries and better conservation efforts to protect critical habitats and provide safe spaces for whales to breed and mature. To address the current threats facing our whales, we must:
Together with whale lovers across Australia, we continue the fight to protect our magnificent giants from whaling and other threats.
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