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Cases / Fishing ban · Russia · 1948–1994

Soviet whaling catches and the reports to the IWC, 1948–1979

Nature's voice · report
Soviet fleets killed an estimated 534,119 of my whales from 1933 into the 1970s; 178,726 were not reported to the IWC, according to Ivashchenko and Clapham (2014).
Did nature suffer? Yes. Harm is on record. Disputed
Recorded
What the record lacks: 4 none on record · 2 insufficient · 1 not measured · 4 disputed · 1 unclear See the gaps
Accounts of the harm differ
Total number of whales killed and not reported to the IWC

Researchers at NOAA and collaborators estimate that Soviet fleets killed 534,119 whales from 1933 into the 1970s, of which 178,726 were not reported to the International Whaling Commission. The IWC adopted Resolution 1994-6 in May 1994, which contains no penalty or compensation.

534,119 estimateWhales killed by the USSR, 1933 into the 1970s (Ivashchenko and Clapham, 2014)
Of which 178,726 were not reported to the IWC. Estimate by the authors; compensation, fine or IWC sanction: none on record.

Status As of the latest sources (2008–2015 research papers and IWC Resolution 1994-6 of May 1994): no penalty, compensation or court proceeding on record.

What?
Soviet fleets killed an estimated 534,119 whales from 1933 into the 1970s and did not report 178,726 of them to the IWC, according to Ivashchenko and Clapham (2014). Ivashchenko Y. V., Clapham P. J., NOAA
Where?
Southern Hemisphere and Antarctic waters; North Pacific including the Kuril Islands area, the Okhotsk Sea and the eastern North Pacific off Washington and Oregon. The North Atlantic was the only major ocean in which the Soviets did not operate. In 1972 blue whale catches were made 96–626 nautical miles from the US west coast. Ivashchenko Y. V., Clapham P. J., NOAA
When?
From 1948 for about three decades; North Pacific revisions cover 1948–79; revealed after 1993 and addressed by IWC Resolution 1994-6 on 23 May 1994. Ivashchenko Y. V., Clapham P. J., NOAA
Who?
Gained
Lost
None on record
Harmed
Why?
The authors wrote that the government set annual targets for whale products and paid factory fleet crews a bonus only if they were exceeded; in 1977 the fines for killing prohibited whales were 25–50 roubles, while fleet leaders' monthly salaries were a thousand roubles or more (Berzin). NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service
How?
Catches were under-reported or misreported; sperm whale sex and length data were falsified according to the authors, with males reported while undersized females were taken; national inspectors were paid by the fleet. Ivashchenko Y. V., Clapham P. J., NOAA
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

In their 2014 paper in Marine Fisheries Review, Y. V. Ivashchenko and P. J. Clapham of NOAA wrote that beginning in 1948 the USSR, despite being a signatory to the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, ran a secret global whaling campaign that lasted three decades and was revealed only after the end of the Cold War. Catches were under-reported or misreported: according to the authors, sperm whale sex and length data were falsified, with the fleets reporting males while taking undersized females, which they say led the IWC to lower the sperm whale minimum length from 11.6 to 9.2 m. A 1966 fleet report stated that 73.1% of all catches (4,391 of 6,006 whales) were in violation of the whaling regulations.

The authors estimated that 534,119 whales were killed by the USSR, of which 178,726 were not reported to the IWC. In the Antarctic the total catch was approximately 338,336 whales, of which only 185,778 were reported; in the North Pacific the USSR killed an estimated 194,177 whales and reported 169,615. A separate 2013 revision of North Pacific catches for 1948–79 counted at least 190,183 whales killed, with 169,638 reported. For Southern Hemisphere humpbacks the authors wrote that takes of more than 48,000 whales precipitated a population crash and the closure of shore whaling stations in Australia and New Zealand; they also reported 3,368 southern right whales killed against 4 reported.

After international observers arrived in 1972, the Soviet fleets carried Japanese observers and the Japanese fleets Soviet observers. A 2015 update added 17 previously unreported blue whale catches from 1972, bringing the Soviet North Pacific blue whale total since 1948 to 1,638, of which 878 were reported. Alexei Yablokov, then Science Advisor to President Yeltsin, spoke about the Soviet whaling data at the Society for Marine Mammalogy conference in Galveston, Texas, in November 1993.

On 23 May 1994 the IWC adopted Resolution 1994-6, which commended the Government of the Russian Federation for its efforts to locate original catch records, urged it to keep supplying original data, authorised Secretariat help from voluntary funds, and invited other governments to check their own past data for inaccuracies or falsification. The resolution contains no penalty or sanction, and no compensation, fine or sanction against the USSR or Russia is on record. Government-set annual targets for whale products paid factory fleet crews a bonus only when exceeded, according to Ivashchenko, Clapham and Brownell; a 1977 order by the Vice-Minister of Fisheries set fines of 25–50 roubles for killing prohibited whales.

  1. 1948Start of the Soviet whaling campaign described by Ivashchenko and Clapham
  2. 1959Slava and Sovetskaya Ukraina take 25,000 humpbacks in two seasons (1959–61)
  3. 1966A fleet report states 73.1% of catches (4,391 of 6,006 whales) were in violation of the whaling regulations
  4. 1972International observers on Soviet and Japanese fleets; 17 blue whale catches later found unreported
  5. 1977Order by Vice-Minister of Fisheries Zhigalov sets fines of 25–50 roubles for killing prohibited whales
  6. 1993Yablokov speaks at the Society for Marine Mammalogy conference in Galveston (Nov)
  7. 1994IWC Resolution 1994-6 adopted at IWC46 (23 May)
  8. 2013Revised North Pacific totals published in the Journal of Cetacean Research and Management
  9. 2014Ivashchenko and Clapham publish worldwide totals in Marine Fisheries Review
  10. 2015Update on Soviet blue whale catches in the eastern North Pacific, 1972 (IWC Scientific Committee paper)

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

“this lasted for three decades and was revealed only after the end of the Cold War”

“The government set annual targets for quantities of whale products … and paid factory fleet crews a bonus only if these targets were exceeded.”

“Whaling resources in the North Pacific are so depleted that there is no point talking about a hunt of 'legal' whales.”

“CONGRATULATES AND COMMENDS the Government of the Russian Federation for its efforts to locate original catch records”

“Understanding the true costs and the nature of revenues within this industry is beyond the scope of the present paper and requires a separate study by an expert in Soviet economics.”

“have still not been addressed in the years following the revelations”

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

Total number of whales killed and not reported to the IWC
Researchers
Ivashchenko and Clapham (2014), abstract

534,119 whales killed, of which 178,726 were not reported to the IWC.

Ivashchenko Y. V., Clapham P. J., NOAA
Researchers
Ivashchenko and Clapham (2014), text

Antarctic: about 338,336 killed, 185,778 reported; North Pacific: 194,177 killed, 169,615 reported; difference approximately 177,130 whales. Table 1 prints the Antarctic reported total as 185,768.

Ivashchenko Y. V., Clapham P. J., NOAA
Researchers
Ivashchenko, Clapham and Brownell (2013)

North Pacific 1948–79: at least 190,183 whales killed (195,783 including a sperm whale estimate), 169,638 reported; difference 20,568 (26,168 including the estimate).

Ivashchenko Y. V., Clapham P. J., Brownell R. L. Jr., International Whaling Commission
Cost of Soviet whale oil production
Researchers
Tønnessen and Johnsen (1982), cited by Ivashchenko and Clapham

Using the reported catch data, it was 2.4 times more expensive for the Soviet whaling fleets to produce whale oil than to buy it.

Ivashchenko Y. V., Clapham P. J., NOAA
Researchers
Ivashchenko and Clapham (2014)

Not a valid comparison, because Soviet whaling was a state-owned, government-subsidized industry.

Ivashchenko Y. V., Clapham P. J., NOAA
Access to original Soviet catch records in 1994
Government and regulators
Russian Federation (as recited in IWC Resolution 1994-6)

Published a report that past statistics were unreliable and supplied previously unreported Southern Hemisphere data in 1994.

ECOLEX (FAO/IUCN/UNEP)
Researchers
A. A. Berzin, former Soviet whale scientist (memoir dated Vladivostok, June 1994)

Kept a 1994 telegram from the Fisheries Industry Administration that prohibits the transfer of original whaling data to the American side.

NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • Catch reports to the IWC that listed males for sperm whales while undersized females were being taken
    Soviet whaling fleets, according to Ivashchenko and Clapham · Ivashchenko Y. V., Clapham P. J., NOAA
  • A report that past Soviet whaling statistics were unreliable, and previously unreported Southern Hemisphere data supplied to the Scientific Committee in 1994
    Russian Federation, as recited in IWC Resolution 1994-6 · ECOLEX (FAO/IUCN/UNEP)

Recorded

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

Not published
Compensation, fine or IWC sanction against the USSR or Russia for the unreported catches—
None on record.

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
Fines under the 1977 order, per captain-director or harpooner for killing prohibited whales—
RUB 25–50; RUB 15–50 for lactating females. Fleet leaders' monthly salaries 'a thousand rubles or more' (Berzin).
Currency: RUB · Window: 1948–1994. All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

Responses on record

  • ussr (1994): A Russian Federation official published a report that past Soviet whaling statistics were unreliable, and Russia supplied previously unreported Southern Hemisphere data to the IWC Scientific Committee in 1994 (as recited in IWC Resolution 1994-6). · ECOLEX (FAO/IUCN/UNEP)
  • iwc (23 May 1994): Resolution 1994-6 commended the Government of the Russian Federation for its efforts to locate original catch records and invited other governments to check their own past data for inaccuracies or falsification. · ECOLEX (FAO/IUCN/UNEP)
  • noaa (2014): Ivashchenko and Clapham wrote that flaws in the observer system have still not been addressed in the years following the revelations. · Ivashchenko Y. V., Clapham P. J., NOAA

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

  1. 1994No defendant left
    IWC Resolution 1994-6 on Soviet catch data
    International Whaling Commission, 46th meeting · International court · International Whaling Commission → No defendant named

    Adopted on 23 May 1994, the resolution commended the Government of the Russian Federation for its efforts to locate original catch records, urged it to keep supplying original data, authorised Secretariat help from voluntary funds, and invited other governments to check their own past data for inaccuracies or falsification. It contains no penalty or sanction. ECOLEX (FAO/IUCN/UNEP)

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Whales killed, USSR (1933 into the 1970s)
534,119
178,726 not reported to the IWC (Ivashchenko and Clapham, 2014)
Southern Hemisphere humpbacks
More than 48,000
Takes preceded a population crash and closure of shore stations in Australia and New Zealand
Southern right whales
3,368 killed
Against 4 reported
Eastern North Pacific right whale
About 30 animals
Population estimate cited from Wade et al. (2011)

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
No court case

Nature

  • Disputed Total number of whales killed and not reported to the IWC

Money

  • None on record Compensation, fine or IWC sanction against the USSR or Russia for the unreported catches — None on record.
  • None on record Fines under the 1977 order, per captain-director or harpooner for killing prohibited whales — RUB 25–50; RUB 15–50 for lactating females. Fleet leaders' monthly salaries 'a thousand rubles or more' (Berzin).

Accounts

  • Disputed Cost of Soviet whale oil production
  • Disputed Access to original Soviet catch records in 1994

Record

  • None on record None on record: compensation, a fine or an IWC sanction against the USSR or Russia for the unreported catches; IWC Resolution 1994-6 imposes no penalty or compensation.
  • None on record None on record: court or tribunal proceedings.
  • Not measured Not measured: the true costs and the nature of revenues of Soviet whaling; the authors write that this is beyond the scope of their paper and requires a separate study by an expert in Soviet economics.
  • Insufficient Insufficient: true catch data are missing for three years, for which a correction factor of 4,000 animals is used (Ivashchenko and Clapham).
  • Insufficient Insufficient: much original data was destroyed by individuals who had no wish to see the truth brought into the light of day (Berzin).
  • Unclear Unclear: the status of the western North Pacific right whale stock, which the authors describe as unknown.
  • Disputed Figures differ: the global unreported total is 178,726 in the abstract of Ivashchenko and Clapham (2014), approximately 177,130 in its text and 'almost 180,000' in its conclusion; North Pacific reported totals are 169,615 (2014) and 169,638 (2013). These are revisions by the same research group.

Did the harm stop?

The authors describe the campaign as lasting about three decades from 1948 and as continuing in part after observers arrived in 1972, with 17 unreported blue whale catches that year. North Pacific revisions cover 1948–79.

Who paid?

None on record. No compensation, fine or IWC sanction against the USSR or Russia is on record; the research that reconstructed the catches was funded by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the Marine Conservation Institute, the North Pacific Research Board and NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service.

Sources

Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts— Press and investigations— Communities and civil society✓ Researchers✓ International bodies

Researchers

  2. Soviet catches of whales in the North Pacific: revised totals, J. Cetacean Res. Manage. 13(1) (doi 10.47536/jcrm.v13i1.556)
    Ivashchenko Y. V., Clapham P. J., Brownell R. L. Jr., International Whaling Commission · 2013 · Archived copy

International bodies

  1. IWC Resolution 1994-6 (database reproduction)
    ECOLEX (FAO/IUCN/UNEP) · 1994-05-23

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
Terms used on this page

Institutions

IUCN Red List
The International Union for Conservation of Nature and its global list assessing species' risk of extinction.
NOAA
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which leads damage assessment for coastal and marine spills.

Law and courts

Trustees (natural resource)
Government agencies that act on behalf of the public to recover and spend damages for harm to natural resources.