The International Regulation of Small Cetaceans

This Article examines the current international regulatory regime for the conservation and management of cetaceans. The author argues that there are approximately sixty species of small cetaceans, but because the primary focus of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has been the setting of commercial harvest levels and conservation measures for large cetaceans, nations have assumed that the IWC\u27s jurisdiction is limited to the regulation of larger species, although nowhere in the IWC Convention or in any rule or regulation is the term whale defined. The author argues that, in light of the fact that the harvest levels of small cetaceans have increased dramatically, there is a need to establish and implement an international regulatory regime for the conservation and management of these other species which are currently without international protection and which, biologically speaking, may be in need of regulation