On 13 September 2018, IWC members gathered in Florianopolis, Brazil, where they discussed and rejected a proposal by Japan to renew commercial whaling. Through the "Florianopolis Declaration", it was concluded that the purpose of the IWC is the conservation of whales and that they would now safeguard the marine mammals in perpetuity and would allow the recovery of all whale populations to pre-industrial whaling levels. It also concluded that the use of lethal research methods is unnecessary. The non-binding agreement was backed by 40 countries, with 27 pro-whaling states voting against. Under this resolution, limited hunts by some indigenous communities are still permitted. On 26 December 2018, Japan announced that since the IWC failed its duty to promote sustainable hunting, which is one of its stated goals, Japan is withdrawing its membership. Japanese officials also announced they will resume commercial hunting within its territorial waters and its 200-mile exclusive economic zones starting in July 2019, but it will cease whaling activities in the Antarctic Ocean, the northwest Pacific Ocean, and the Australian Whale Sanctuary. IWC is a voluntary international organization and is not backed up by treaty, therefore, the IWC has substantial practical limitations on its authority. First, any member countries are free to simply leave the organization and declare themselves not bound by it if they so wish. Second, any member state may opt out of any specific IWC regulation by lodging a formal objection to it within 90 days of the regulation coming into force (such provisions are common in international agreements, on the logic that it is preferable to have parties remain within the agreements than opt out altogether). Third, the IWC has no ability to enforce any of its decisions through penalty imposition. In 1971, Australia and South Africa agreed to supply observers to each other (International Observer Scheme, IOS) to ensure their land-based whaling stations were in compliance of the IWC. A similar agreement was drawn up between Canada, Iceland and Norway covering the North Atlantic area. This was shortly followed by an agreement between Japan and the United States in the North Pacific Ocean. The introduction of the IOS had a positive effect on quality of the reported catch data, according to the Royal Society, despite no significant change in regulations, indicating false reporting may have been prevalent in the Japanese whaling industry prior to the IOS. There has been concern that the conflict between those who seek renewed utilisation of whales and those who seek protection for every whale has placed a dangerous strain on the IWC. Oran Young and eight other noted scholars in the field assert that "changes in the current [IWC] arrangements are inevitable" and that "the killing of whales for human consumption will continue, whether whalers operate within a reconstructed international whaling regime, opt to join alternative arrangements like NAMMCO, or seek to establish a hybrid system".