Antigua and Barbuda submits whaling resolution: a thinly disguised attack on the moratorium

Commercial whaling has been prohibited worldwide since 1986. At the heart of the new resolution is a proposal to set up a special task force to assess reviving the mechanism the IWC uses to calculate commercial whaling quotas. That mechanism is the instrument that would put commercial hunting back into operation. 

The 2022 and 2024 versions of the text, tabled at the Commission meetings in Portorož and Lima, were aimed towards lifting the moratorium and the orderly management and development of the whaling industry. In 2022, the resolution did not proceed to a vote and in 2024, Antigua and Barbuda withdrew it in the face of significant opposition, promising that consultations would lead to a revision. No such consultations have become known to observers, and the substance of the new text is close to identical. 

It is co-sponsored by Palau, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia and, for the first time, Togo, alongside an unnamed “group that support the sustainable use of marine living resources”. IWC resolutions are normally sponsored by member governments only, and it is not clear which entities this group refers to. 

Who is this for?

Antigua and Barbuda has never conducted commercial whaling, has no whaling fleet and has announced no intention of building one. Whatever the resolution would open up, the country itself would arguably not use it.  

“It is deeply disappointing to see Antigua and Barbuda lead this attempt at lifting the moratorium for a third time. The title has changed, the intent has not, and the majority of IWC parties have already made clear they do not want to reopen this process. Antigua and Barbuda has never hunted whales commercially and has announced no interest in doing so. One has to ask what their real agenda is,” says Fabienne McLellan, Managing Director of OceanCare. 

The country’s position has long been linked to its relationship with Japan, the driving force behind efforts to relegalise commercial hunts. Asked in 2024 about a possible quid pro quo, Antigua and Barbuda’s IWC Commissioner Daven Joseph pointed to more than 200 million US dollars in Japanese financial assistance over two decades and responded: “Is that wrong?” 

Gross oversimplification of the sustainability of whaling

The resolution invokes the “sustainable use” of whales and claims that their populations have significantly increased since the moratorium took effect. Many have not. Whales are long-lived and slow to reproduce, several populations remain severely depleted, and numerous cetacean species and populations are still listed as threatened or endangered. They face bycatch, underwater noise, chemical pollution, marine debris, food depletion, habitat degradation and a changing climate. 

The resolution further argues that whaling serves livelihoods and food security, without offering evidence. Norway, Iceland and Japan are the only countries currently conducting commercial whaling, and they sell the products commercially. Whale meat is highly perishable, costly to transport and store, and not all cetacean products are safe to eat because of their contaminant loads. Food security needs to be addressed at its roots, by tackling overfishing, illegal fishing, bycatch and waste.  

“More than 200 regional experts of the West and Central Africa Coalition for Whales have set out the position clearly. In most West and Central African countries whale meat is neither traditional nor culturally significant, and the claim that whales deplete fish stocks has no basis in current science. Fisheries are declining because of overfishing, illegal fishing and habitat degradation. Whales do the opposite of competing with fisheries: by recycling nutrients they raise the productivity of the ocean that fisheries depend on,” says Maximin Djondo, Aquatic Wildlife Conservation Specialist, Western Africa at OceanCare. 

A government out of step with its people

Where whales do generate income for coastal communities, it is through whale watching, at a value far beyond anything whaling could return. For a Caribbean state with whales off its coasts and an economy built on the ocean, that is not an abstract point. 

At home, too, Antigua and Barbuda’s government has little backing: A survey carried out by CoreConsult Inc. for the Antigua and Barbuda Ocean Trust found that 64% of residents oppose commercial whaling, 60% oppose their country proposing a resolution that could lead to its resumption, and 68% did not know their government supports commercial whaling at the IWC.  

Notably, 62% believe the government’s position could damage the country’s international reputation – just months before Antigua and Barbuda hosts the Caribbean Blue Economy Summit in October and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November. 

There is a way out

OceanCare calls on Antigua and Barbuda and the co-sponsors to withdraw the resolution and to refrain from supporting any initiative that could lead to the resumption of commercial whaling. Instead, Antigua and Barbuda could back the establishment of the South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary. That would protect not only whales and other marine species, but also be more coherent with its commitments on ocean protection and climate change in other international fora – and with what its own people want. 

Notes to editors

• The resolution submitted by Antigua and Barbuda for IWC70. Previous pro-whaling resolutions at the IWC from 2022 and 2024
• The national opinion poll
• The letter to Prime Minister Gaston Browne sent on 24 July 2026, signed by 22 NPOs
• IWC Commissioner Daven Joseph on Japanese assistance (2024)
• IWC70 takes place in Hobart, Australia, from 27 September to 2 October 2026