PROTECTING THE SOUTHERN OCEAN WHALE SANCTUARY: DEVELOPMENT OF A MANAGEMENT PLAN

ASOC submitted a paper to the June meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Santiago outlining the reasons why the IWC, in concert with CCAMLR and other appropriate international bodies, should develop a Management Plan for the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. This was made available as an Opening Statement in accordance with IWC rules. Following the IWC meeting, ASOC prepared an updated version of the paper, which is now in circulation to all of the governments participating in the IWC’s Small Working Group. ASOC is sharing this information paper with the CCAMLR community. In this context, ASOC notes that in August the IWC and CCAMLR Scientific Committees held a joint workshop to share scientific information and methodologies for modeling the Southern Ocean. ASOC hopes that this laid a good foundation for further collaborative work., and looks forward to the report of that workshop and future joint work.