Unsustainable and uncontrollable - what's wrong with the RMS

Publication date: May 2002

Summary
Despite a history of repeated failure to control commercial whaling under a succession of management regimes, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) is currently in the process of developing a new set of rules, known as the Revised Management Scheme or RMS, which could be used to manage commercial whaling operations at some point in the near future and, if agreed, could herald the lifting of the moratorium on all commercial whaling.

Greenpeace believes that whatever provisions might be included in any future RMS, they would not be sufficient to ensure the adequate protection of the world's remaining whales. This briefing sets out the reasons why commercial whaling cannot be conducted on a sustainable basis.