Australia recognizes that “the ICRW established the Commission as the principal institution responsible to give effect to its object and purpose ” Australia also accepts that “[a]t the time of the conclusion of the Convention, the ICRW’s objective – the conservation
and recovery of all whale stocks – was seen as a means to achieve the orderly development of the whaling industry ”24 Australia recognizes that the ICRW is “the international legal regime for the regulation of whaling” which was “a system primarily designed to manage the exploitation of a natural resource” when the ICRW was concluded
However, it contends that the practice of the IWC has seen “an increased emphasis on conservation per se”, and that “[t]he IWC now pursues conservation of whales as an end itself