Organisations which aim to achieve sustainable exploitation

• International Whaling Commission (IWC)

  • the main aim is to regulate and manage whaling
  • populations of many whale species had been so depleted by unregulated whaling that commercial whaling was banned in 1986 until a time in the future that populations have recovered enough to be able to withstand commercial whaling
• IWC continued

  • aim is to control whaling and ensure that exploitation is sustainable by conserving whale stocks through the following :
  • total protection of certain species
  • designation of whale sanctuaries
  • setting limits on numbers and sizes of whales that can be taken
  • protection of suckling mothers and their calves
  • carrying out research into whale biology and activities that threaten whales such as ship strikes and entanglement with fishing nets
• Three reasons why whaling can take place -

  • Aboriginal subsistence : permitted for cultural groups that have traditionally hunted whales for food
  • Special Permit Whaling or Scientific Whaling: involves the killing of whales for scientific research. Japan has used this reasoning to justify their whaling but in 2014 the International Court of Justice declared it was not for research
  • Commercial whaling : Iceland and Norway use an IWC regulation to set their own quota for commercial whaling. In 2014 they killed about 800 Fin and Minke Whales
• Common Fisheries Policy of the EU (EU CFP)

  • series of regulations that control fishing within the territorial waters of the European Union.
  • the aim is to ensure that fishing and aquaculture are environmentally, economically and socially sustainable and that they provide a source of healthy food for EU citizens
• EU CFP regulations -

  • catch quotas to limit the total mass that can be landed
  • size limits so fewer small fish are killed and have a chance to grow
  • net mesh seize regulations that allow smaller fish to escape, survive and have the chance to grow larger and breed
  • limits on fishing effort such as maximum size of fishing boat or the number of days fishing can take place
  • a ban on the discarding of unwanted fish
• International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO)

  • aims to encourage sustainable management of tropical forests
  • in 1990, ITTO members agreed to strive for and international trade of tropical timber from sustainably managed forests by 2000, without unsustainable exploitation
  • however there was little evidence of success by 2000 and this has continued to be the case