FROM THE HARPOON TO THE HEAT: CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE

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IINTERNATIONAL WHALING COMMISSION IN THE 21ST CENTURY

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Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security

2000

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Executive Summary

In recent years, the International Whaling Commission has recognized that environmental change

(climate change; chemical pollution, physical and biological habitat degradation; effects of fisheries;

ozone depletion and UV-B radiation; Arctic issues; disease and mortality events; and the impact of

noise) poses a serious threat to the viability of cetaceans. The purpose of this paper is to focus on

the IWC’s efforts in the context of one of these threats, climate change.

Climate change is likely to pose serious threats to cetaceans. In the Antarctic, a doubling of

greenhouse gas emissions from pre-industrial times, projected to occur later this century, could

reduce sea ice in the Southern Hemisphere by more than 40 per cent.

A reduction in sea ice may lead to a decline in the productivity of algae, the primary source of food

for the zooplankton species krill during the winter and could deny krill larvae critical protection from

predators. As krill are the primary food source for cetacean species in the Antarctic, it could have

serious implications for populations in the region.

Changes and the distribution of polynyas could also impair cetacean foraging of phytoplankton,

further threatening the species.

In the Arctic, sea ice decline associated with warming could result in the diminution of phytoplankton

populations. This could lead to ‘knock-on effects’ throughout the Arctic food chain, including

declines in the stocks of several key prey species of cetaceans, such as copepods and plankton-

feeding fish, including Arctic cod, a key prey species for narwhal and beluga whales. Warming and

the attendant ice melt might result in greater stratification of the water column and decreased

nutrient resupply, limiting the growth of phytoplankton populations that are a critical link in the

cetacean food chain in the region. Additionally, projected reductions in sea ice area could also open

up the Northwest Passage. This could expose cetaceans to increased ship traffic and mineral

exploitation.

In other regions of the world, warming may also alter ocean upwelling patterns, fostering increased

blooms of dinoflagellates, many of which produce brevitoxins.

Additionally, warming may result in an increased incidence of violent weather events, or increased

intensity of such events. Increased precipitation associated with such storms could result in more

pollutants running off from land into coastal waterways inhabited by whales, as well as the

introduction of river-borne contaminants into Arctic waters.

Elevated levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide could also increase seawater acidity, potentially

raising the concentration of heavy metals in ocean ecosystems, exacerbating the toxic effect of

these substances on cetaceans.

The International Whaling Commission has sought to confront the threat to cetaceans from climate

change through a research program that began in 1996. However, this program is under funded and

the prospects for additional funding from the parties are not good. Moreover, even if the research

initiatives of the IWC and other organizations improve our understanding of the impact of climate

change on cetacean species, these impacts ultimately can be averted only if nations demonstrate

the resolve to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Unfortunately, the parties to the

United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) have shown little resolve to

meaningfully reduce emissions, and even full implementation of the Kyoto Protocol under the

treaty would not substantially reduce projected warming over the next century.

In the context of climate change, the International Whaling Commission’s most important role in the

future may be coordinating its efforts with the UNFCCC and other international treaty regimes that

have an impact on the viability of cetacean stocks, such as the Commission for the Conservation

of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.