The 59th annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) took place in Anchorage, Alaska in May of 2007. Resolutions proposed by pro-whaling nations were voted down, while a strong majority of IWC member nations expressed support for the continuation of the commercial whaling moratorium. This caused significant tension during the meeting, with Japan announcing that it was considering withdrawing from the commission if the anti-whaling trend continued.

The 2007 meeting of the IWC also saw the reaffirmation of an anti-whaling position by a majority of member nations, reversing a pro-whaling resolution that a Japan-led coalition had succeeded in getting passed with a single vote majority at the 2006 meeting of the IWC.

Five new pro-conservation countries joined the IWC -- Ecuador, Croatia, Guatemala, Greece and Slovenia -- bringing the total number of members at the time to 77. Guinea-Bissau and Laos also joined expressing their support for commercial whaling. Other countries that have supported Japan's position in the past such as Cameroon, Nicaragua and Togo were not present at the meeting to vote.

Much of the meeting was taken up with the discussion of aboriginal subsistence whaling (ASW) quotas for the United States, Greenland, Russian Federation and St. Vincent & the Grenadines. The quotas were renewed for five years, with Greenland obtaining an addition of 25 minke whales and two bowhead whales to their previous years' quota.

Japan withdrew its proposal for coastal minke whaling, which would have effectively lifted the moratorium on commercial whaling. Despite lengthy negotiations during the week, with 50 humpback whales as their bargaining chip, it was clear that Japan would not gain even 50% of the votes, let alone the 75% it needed.

A Resolution condemning Japan's 'scientific whaling' in the Antarctic was passed with 40 votes in favor, 2 votes against and 1 abstention. Japan led a pro-whaling block of 27 countries (including the eastern Caribbean countries) which decided to not participate in the vote rather than vote no, but either way there was a clear majority for the anti-whaling countries.

The Scientific Committee has still not been able to agree an abundance estimate for southern hemisphere minke whales, although Japan continues to state that there are 760,000, a number that is not now accepted by the Scientific Committee. The Government sponsored “scientific” catch in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary this year could total 950 minke whales, 50 fin whales and 50 humpback whales.

Brazil and Argentina once again proposed the establishment of a whale sanctuary (similar to that in the Southern Ocean) in the South Atlantic. The sanctuary was blocked by pro-whaling nations, including Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts & Nevis and St. Lucia who all voted against the sanctuary. St. Vincent & the Grenadines abstained from the vote. The sanctuary proposal obtained a substantial majority vote in favor (39 votes in favor, 29 against and 3 abstentions), but fell short of the 3/4 majority vote required for its adoption. Latin American countries were successful in passing a resolution recognizing the legitimacy of whale watching within the IWC's management of whales.

A resolution on the Vaquita was adopted by consensus in the wake of the extinction of the baiji. Although Japan and other pro-whaling countries did not block the consensus, they did not actually join it. The resolution called on all IWC members to support efforts to save the vaquita, a critically endangered porpoise species that numbers just a few hundred animals in the Gulf of California.

The future of the IWC was a central theme in the discussions throughout the meeting, and a separate meeting is planned to focus on this before the next annual meeting in Chile.