Indian Ocean Whale Sanctuary Indian Ocean Whale Sanctuary The Indian Ocean Whale Sanctuary is an area in the Indian Ocean where the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has banned all types of commercial whaling. The IWC has at present designated two such sanctuaries, the other being the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. Repeated proposals at the IWC for a South Atlantic Sanctuary and a South Pacific Sanctuary have never reached the 75% majority needed to pass. The Indian Ocean Sanctuary was established by the IWC in 1979 after being proposed by the tiny island nation of the Seychelles, in its first meeting as an IWC member,
Geography of the British Indian Ocean Territory Australia). Diego Garcia lies at the southernmost tip of the Chagos-Laccadive Ridge — a vast submarine range in the Indian Ocean. The total area encompassed by the atoll is . At the entrance to the lagoon, there are three small islands, and these are East Island (), Middle Island (), and West Island (). In some areas, the atoll has both marshes and wetlands. The ecosystem consists of undisturbed tropical forests. The Peros Banhos Islands, which are the largest group on the Chagos Bank, consists of 27 islands scattered around the rim of an immense lagoon, which has a perimeter