The participants in the workshop were legal experts from five countries on international law. The list of the contributors is contained herein. Professor Robert L. Friedheim of School of International Relations, University of Southern California was elected the chairperson for the Workshop.

Summary of the Discussion:

The participants in the Workshop reviewed actions of the International Whaling Commission over the past fifteen years especially the indefinite confirmation of the moratorium on commercial whaling and the creation of the Southern Ocean Sanctuary (SOS).

A considerable degree of agreement among the participants on the major issues resulted. It was agreed by the participants that the IWC has reinterpreted the mandate and powers of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) since some 25 years ago during which period the majority composition of the Commission shifted to non-whaling nations. In the process, the majority members of the IWC have made decisions inconsistent with the language of the Convention and in violation of various rights of some of the Contracting Governments.

The Workshop believed that if one values the specific directives of the ICRW and deems that action should pass a "good faith and ordinary meaning test," then there is a "strong case" that rights of parties have been violated under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT).

The establishment of the moratorium may have been originally justified, since the parties have an obligation to conserve when whale stocks that are endangered. However, when scientific evidence demonstrates population of some whale stocks are sustainable for harvesting, or recovered from unsustainable level, the moratorium must be lifted under the legal terms of the Convention. "Serious legal issues" are raised by the attempt to make the moratorium permanent.

Despite the fact that the IWC has the power to designate sanctuary areas, the creation of the SOS was beyond the scope of the ICRW because the SOS was not based on conservation. The Convention's clear purpose is "to provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry." (Preamble of ICRW)

The IWC's Scientific Committee has determined the population levels of some whale stocks to be recovered and healthy. A total ban of harvesting of all whale stocks, including whale stocks found by the IWC's own Scientific Committee to be plentiful, clearly violates the principle of decision making according to the ICRW to be "based on scientific evidence." Such total ban does not foster "orderly development of the whaling industry" nor does it "take into consideration the interests of consumers of whale products." (Article V-2)

Over the past fifteen years, "the IWC has been transformed from a convention based upon principles of prudent utilization of ocean resources and sustainability to a principle of preservation of whales, regardless of the state of the stocks. Under the provisions of the VCLT, the actions by the IWC "are of dubious legality."

The Workshop agreed that the legal issues raised should "be submitted to third party settlement."

_