India Backs Science-Led Whale Conservation at IWC-70 in Hobart

India has pressed for stronger, evidence-led protection of whales, dolphins and porpoises at the 70th meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC-70), which opened in Hobart, Australia. The session runs from 28 September to 02 October 2026, and India set out its position in an Opening Statement on the first day.

What India argued

India told the meeting that range countries, scientific institutions and international organisations have to keep working together if cetaceans are to be protected properly. Better information on how many animals there are, where they travel, how they breed and what endangers them is, in India's view, the basis on which any conservation measure should rest. The delegation asked that decisions of the Commission stay anchored in sound science rather than in assumption, and pushed for closer cooperation between governments, researchers and coastal communities so that the remedies designed are practical and suited to the places where they will be applied.

An eighty-year-old convention

The meeting carries an extra weight this year: it coincides with the eightieth anniversary of the signing of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. That treaty, signed at Washington DC on 02.12.1946, created the International Whaling Commission as the world body responsible for regulating whaling and conserving whales. Its membership today stands at 89 governments. India joined the Commission in 1981 and has since taken an active part in its work.

How India protects cetaceans at home

Whale and dolphin species found in Indian waters enjoy the highest grade of legal protection available under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. A number of Marine Protected Areas have been notified as well, covering not only whales and dolphins but dugongs, sharks, rays, turtles and corals. Beyond the statute, the government runs Project Dolphin, which treats dolphins, whales, porpoises and the water systems they live in as one conservation problem rather than several. India also gives special attention to the Arabian Sea humpback whale, counted among the 25 species picked out for focused conservation effort.

The ask at Hobart

Winding up, India repeated that the Commission's future agenda should be driven by science-based priorities, by cooperation across borders and by measures that can actually be carried out against the many threats cetaceans face.