The State of Circumpolar Walrus Populations

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North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO)
NAMCO is an international body that was formed by agreement among Faroe Islands,
Greenland, Iceland, and Norway in 1992 to foster cooperation on the conservation, management,
and study of marine mammals in the North Atlantic (NAMMCO 1992). Many of the marine
mammals in this region had not hitherto been covered by such an international agreement. A
Working Group on Walrus provides advice on the species to the Scientific Committee, which
responds to requests from the Council, which is the decision-making body of the Commission
(Wiig et al. 2014). Specialists from both member and non-member countries (e.g., Canada,
Russia, US) are invited to Working Group meetings to address the topics under discussion.
Canada is not a member of NAMMCO but has been invited to participate in meetings at all levels
of the organization because it shares stocks of walruses and other marine mammals with
Greenland (Wiig et al. 2014). In 2010 NAMMCO made recommendations to improve the
management of these shared walrus stocks, including that “A common management regime be
established between Greenland and Canada on shared stocks of walruses.” (NAMMCO 2011:
408-409). Canada has also been encouraged to join NAMMCO to facilitate the management of
shared stocks.
The Norwegian-Soviet Sealing Agreement of 1958
This bilateral agreement between Norway and Russia applies to waters of the North Atlantic east
of Kap Farvel, Greenland, in which nationals of the two countries hunt seals, namely the
Greenland and Norwegian seas, Denmark Strait and the area of Jan Mayen Island, and the
Barents Sea (Article I) (UN 1958). It forbade the taking of walruses except under special licences
that could be issued for the taking of a limited number of adult male walruses, exclusively for the
needs of the local population and for expeditions, with the express proviso that the raw materials
thus obtained shall be used for food, animal feed and other local domestic purposes. This
Agreement confirmed the 1934 Soviet prohibition of ship-based hunting, the 1952 Norwegian
prohibition of all walrus hunting, and the 1956 Soviet prohibition of all walrus hunting in the
western Soviet Arctic (Øritsland 1973).
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
The IUCN is an international organization comprised of both governmental and nongovernmental
members that was established in 1948. Its mission is “to influence, encourage and
assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to
ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable.”