Why did the League of Nations’ 1931 International Whaling Convention have limited success?

The League of Nations’ 1931 International Whaling Convention had limited success in establishing effective, restrictive regulations due to the prevailing influence of commercial interests and a lack of scientific understanding regarding whale populations.1

At the time, the whaling industry was driven by intense competition and the pursuit of profit, which frequently undermined efforts to implement meaningful conservation measures. Restraint was significantly hampered by the selfishness of commercial entities and a general ignorance of the biological science necessary to manage whale stocks sustainably. Because the convention lacked the robust enforcement mechanisms and the comprehensive, science-based management frameworks that would later be attempted by the International Whaling Commission (IWC), it failed to provide a viable path toward protecting whale populations from the rapid escalation of industrial hunting.12