The World Council of Whalers (WCW) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1997 to provide a forum for whaling peoples around the world. Its mission is to promote their continued sustainable use of marine living resources, to protect their cultural, social, economic and dietary rights, and to address their concerns.
WCW grew out of ad hoc meetings in Glasgow, Scotland in 1992, Kyoto, Japan in 1993 and Berkeley, California in 1996. In January 1997, it was formally established with Tom Happynook, Nuu chah nulth whaler, as chairman, and an executive board of five members representing North America, the North Atlantic, the North Pacific, the South Pacific / Indian Ocean, and Caribbean regions.
Its first Annual General Assembly was held in Victoria, BC from March 2 - 6, 1998 with over 100 delegates representing 19 countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Canada, Dominica, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Grenada, Iceland, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Russia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Tonga, and the United States. They included, in addition to whalers, sympathetic observers, committed to community-based management as a conservation and development tool and the preservation of the world's rich variety of cultures and traditions.
Subsequent WCW General Assemblies were held in Reykjavik, Iceland (1999), Nelson, New Zealand/Aotearoa (2000), and Torshavn, Faroe Islands (2002) with between 150-250 delegates attending.