Grenada withdraws A&B whaling bid, seeks scientific review of ban

By Kisean Joseph
kisean.joseph@antiguaobserver.com
Antigua and Barbuda’s whaling resolution has been provisionally withdrawn in Hobart, Australia, but a fresh request could still open the door to reviewing the moratorium.
Grenada, acting on Antigua and Barbuda’s behalf, withdrew the proposal “conditionally” and requested scientific talks on reviewing paragraph 10(e), the clause containing the commercial whaling ban. Nicolas Entrup, director of international relations at OceanCare, who is observing the meeting, says there is a risk that the Commission could agree to such a mandate without a vote if no member objects. Entrup also said it was highly unusual for Grenada to withdraw on behalf of Antigua and Barbuda, and some contest the legality of the move, as Grenada is not a co-sponsor of the resolution.
The International Whaling Commission (IWC) has postponed all voting at its 70th meeting until Friday. Delegates expect a heated debate.
Grenada’s submitted text reads: “The proposal is conditionally withdrawn; however, in the interim, we are asking the Scientific Liaison Group (SLG) to discuss with the SC an accepted procedure for the commission to address its decisions for the review of paragraph 10 E.”
The SLG is a group of member countries through which the Commission directs requests to its Scientific Committee (SC).
Entrup explained that the Scientific Committee and the Conservation Committee are the IWC’s two most important committees. Both are made up of leading scientists and only carry out research when the Commission mandates it.
According to Entrup, Antigua and Barbuda now wants the IWC to mandate the Scientific Committee to examine how the moratorium could be lifted. In his view, a review of paragraph 10(e) amounts, in effect, to a review of the moratorium itself.
Entrup described the withdrawal as “a confusion tactic” and warned that the move still poses a risk to supporters of the ban. He added that Antigua and Barbuda had managed to blindside the Commission. “It is an unworthy game. Withdrawing but introducing the same intention through the back door is unacceptable and needs to be rejected,” Entrup said.
He also said Antigua and Barbuda’s IWC Commissioner, Ambassador Daven Joseph, did not present the resolution himself in the plenary and left that role to St Lucia.
The development follows mounting pressure at home and abroad. Earlier this week, the Antigua and Barbuda Coalition for the Protection of Whales delivered a petition carrying 5,585 signatures from 87 countries and territories to Prime Minister Gaston Browne, urging the government to withdraw the resolution. Visiting yacht captains had also written to Browne with the same request.
According to the coalition, this is the third time the country has submitted such a resolution, after proposals in 2022 and 2024. Antigua and Barbuda withdrew both earlier resolutions, including the 2024 proposal at IWC69 in Lima, Peru, after it failed to achieve consensus. The coalition says Palau, St Kitts and Nevis, and Togo co-sponsor the 2026 resolution.
In its opening statement in Hobart, the government argued that the 1982 moratorium was meant to be reviewed after 10 years, but that review never took place. It said decisions should rest on science, international law and the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling.