The Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary is adopted
The IWC designates about 50 million square kilometres around Antarctica as a sanctuary in which commercial whaling is prohibited, by 23 votes in favour with Japan opposed. The northern boundary runs along 40°S, except at 55°S in the Indian Ocean sector and 60°S around South America and into the South Pacific. The designation is reviewed every ten years.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary · protected_area · Circumpolar Antarctic · not located
- International Whaling Commission · organisation · International · not located
- Southern Ocean · maritime region · Circumpolar, south of roughly 40°S · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
IWC whale sanctuaries: the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary
The Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary was established by the IWC in 1994, with 23 states in favour and Japan opposed, covering about 50 million square kilometres around Antarctica; its northern boundary follows 40°S except in the Indian Ocean sector, where it meets the Indian Ocean Whale Sanctuary at 55°S, and around South America and into the South Pacific, where it is at 60°S. Its status is reviewed every ten years. V55 verification basis: iwc.int is blocked by this environment's egress proxy; the boundary description comes from search summaries and reference works, not from the IWC Schedule text.
International Whaling Commission · sanctuary adopted 1994; accessed 2026-08-08 · Partly verified
https://iwc.int/management-and-conservation/sanctuaries
Recorded on Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary
- The factory ship Lancing takes a stern slipway south
- The Antarctic blue whale catch reaches its all-time peak
- The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling is signed
- Soviet fleets take protected whales and file false returns
- The IWC protects blue whales from commercial hunting
- CCAMLR is agreed at Canberra
- The IWC adopts the commercial whaling moratorium
- The commercial whaling moratorium takes effect
- The Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary is adopted
- The true scale of Soviet whaling is published
- A long-term decline in krill density is linked to winter sea ice
- Dedicated Antarctic Blue Whale Project voyages
- CCAMLR adopts the Ross Sea marine protected area
- Baleen whale consumption is re-measured, and the krill paradox sharpens
- The only published Antarctic blue whale satellite tracks are released as data
- Antarctic sea ice reaches a record low, a year after the previous one
- Antarctic meltwater is projected to slow the abyssal cell
- A physics-based early warning signal is proposed
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- A physics-based early warning signal is proposed · 2024-02
- The only published Antarctic blue whale satellite tracks are released as data · 2023
- Antarctic sea ice reaches a record low, a year after the previous one · 2023-02
- Antarctic meltwater is projected to slow the abyssal cell · 2023
- Baleen whale consumption is re-measured, and the krill paradox sharpens · 2021-11
- CCAMLR adopts the Ross Sea marine protected area · 2016-10
- Dedicated Antarctic Blue Whale Project voyages · 2013, 2015, 2019
- A long-term decline in krill density is linked to winter sea ice · 2004