Abstract
Every southern winter, humpback whales, coming from Antarctica, cross waters under the jurisdiction or sovereignty of several states and territories in the South West Indian Ocean. Faced with multiple threats linked to different sectors of activity (fishing, shipping, whale watching, etc.), whale protection requires a holistic approach which has not yet been thought of in the region, unlike to other parts of the world. Tourism and economic challenges have pushed for the adoption of specific rules at the domestic or local level, but without real cooperation between the states concerned. Furthermore, various universal and regional organizations have competences that could favor a protection of whales more adapted to the migratory character of this species, but they also act in isolation or in a segmented way. The legal protection of whales in the South West Indian Ocean must take into account this complex but enabling normative and institutional environment. Consequently, it is necessary to use current legal frameworks, but above all, to reveal the links between them. These ones may be considered from a top down approach, through the implementation of international agreements in domestic legal order, but also from a bottom up dynamic, through the regional consistency of existing protection tools designed at locally. The global perspective, necessary for cetacean protection finally suppose emphasizing the normative production of various subsidiary stakeholders of international relations. NGOs, infra-state actors, experts, or companies, sometimes formed in transnational networks, contribute indeed to “defragment” the regional governance to protect whales at the regional level in the southwestern Indian Ocean.