RESOLUTION 2024-1 RESOLUTION ON COOPERATION IN ANTARCTICA ACKNOWLEDGING the critical ecological importance of the Southern Ocean as the single largest feeding area for southern hemisphere whales, as well as its unique contribution to global biodiversity and ecosystems; AWARE that marine life in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica is highly sensitive to environmental changes, especially to climate change, due to narrow tolerance ranges, rapid changes, projected circumpolar impacts and low potential for timely genetic adaptation; NOTING that krill is a key dietary item for cetaceans as well as other marine species and supports a stable phytoplankton population which has implications for the transfer of carbon to the deep ocean; NOTING further that the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) implements a comprehensive set of conservation measures in order to ensure the conservation of Antarctic marine living resources; CONCERNED about the spatio-temporal overlaps between cetacean feeding areas and commercial fishing activities, as evidenced by recent reports of whale bycatch in the Antarctic krill fishery; COGNISANT that CCAMLR and the International Whaling Commission (IWC) have a history of cooperation, for example through the 2008 Joint IWC/CCAMLR Workshop to Review Input Data for Antarctic Ecosystem on Antarctic Marine Ecosystem Models and more recently in 2022 through the collaboration of the IWC Scientific Committee’s Human Induced Mortality subcommittee (HIM) and CCAMLR’s Working Group on Incidental Mortality Associated with Fishing (WG-IMAF) to address cetacean bycatch mortality events; ACKNOWLEDGING the importance of increasing collaboration between the IWC and CCAMLR on issues of mutual interest including, inter alia, cetacean abundance estimates and distribution, avoiding bycatch of cetaceans in fisheries, maintaining healthy and productive ecosystems and habitats for cetaceans, and understanding the impact of climate change on cetaceans and their food sources; NOTING the 30th anniversary this year of the IWC's creation of the Southern Ocean Sanctuary and the third decadal review of the Sanctuary conducted at IWC-SC69B and that CCAMLR is considering several proposals for marine protected areas that would allow for, if adopted, linkages and synergies with the Southern Ocean Sanctuary that mutually support the objectives of IWC and CCAMLR; ACKNOWLEDGING the importance of the IWC’s Southern Ocean Research Partnership (IWC-SORP) which aims to maximise our knowledge of Southern Ocean cetaceans and their environment to inform conservation and management through its integrated and collaborative cetacean research; and WELCOMING IWC-SORP’s ongoing projects and opportunities to share resulting information with CCAMLR; NOTING the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030), its priorities for and significant number of endorsed actions relevant to the Southern Ocean and the potential for collaboration between the IWC and CCAMLR and the UN Ocean Decade in areas of mutual interest, including IWC-SORP; NOTING with appreciation that IAATO - the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators - has adopted guidelines for interactions around cetaceans in the Southern Ocean. NOW THEREFORE, THE COMMISSION: WELCOMES SC-CAMLR’s endorsement of a CCAMLR observer to the IWC Scientific Committee, and encourages the Scientific Committees of both organisations to continue to collaborate on issues of mutual interest; ENCOURAGES the establishment of a formal agreement, such as a Memorandum of Understanding, between the IWC and CCAMLR to facilitate data sharing, the exchange of information on the effects of fisheries and global environmental change in the Antarctic region relevant to whale populations, and the provision of expert advice relating to cetaceans by the IWC to inform management decisions; INVITES Contracting Governments, other States and relevant organisations active in the area to enhance their scientific and monitoring activities and contribute to data gathering and exchange for the conservation and management of cetaceans in the Southern Ocean; ENCOURAGES Contracting Governments to provide direct and indirect support to implement the objectives of the IWC SORP and Scientific Committee research on related topics; FULLY SUPPORTS the establishment, based on the best available science, of a representative system of marine protected areas (MPAs) within the CCAMLR Convention area as these MPAs could further support the conservation-related objectives of the Southern Ocean Sanctuary; CALLS ON all Antarctic krill-fishing nations to take the measures necessary to avoid bycatch of cetaceans; REQUESTS the IWC Secretariat to engage with IAATO with a view of further distributing the Whale Watching Handbook among tourist vessels and operators and to seek further collaboration in order to avoid collisions, changes in behaviour, and other potential impacts on cetaceans in the Southern Ocean.