International law and the regulation of cetaceans : an analysis of the role of global and regional instruments and institutions in the conservation of marine living resources

• Main Author: Caddell, John Richard
• Published: Cardiff University 2009
• Subjects: 599.5
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.584676

This thesis examines one of the most controversial issues in the modern governance of marine living resources, namely the regulation of cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises). Cetaceans face a wide range of conservation pressures, from targeted catches to incidental mortality in fisheries and the pernicious effects of habitat destruction and disturbance. The voluminous literature on cetacean issues to date has focussed predominantly on the complicated regulatory position of the International Whaling Commission, created under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling 1946, although supervisory institutions pertinent to cetaceans have steadily proliferated since the mid-1970s. This thesis reviews the leading regulatory actors and institutions, with particular reference to the cohesion of the overall framework and its ability to develop effective synergies and to advance meaningful conservation measures for cetaceans. In so doing, the role of the IWC is analysed to provide a basis to identify the degree of regulatory supplementation required by alternative fora. To this end, this thesis further analyses the role of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna 1973, the Convention on Biological Diversity 1992 and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982, before conducting a sustained appraisal of obligations under the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals 1979 in respect of small cetaceans. This thesis also advances a first substantive examination of pertinent policies of the European Union, and evaluates the role of EU law in the conservation of cetaceans on the international, regional and national levels.