LAWS TO GOVERN WHALING

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25081, 13 January 1947, Page 8

LAWS TO GOVERN WHALING

AGREEMENT BY 19 NATIONS NEW INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION WASHINGTON, December 3. The whaling industry was given a new set of laws to-day. While they are not airtight, they are expected to do much to keep the whale from becoming extinct, writes Neal Stanford in the “Christian Science Monitor.” Nineteen nations, after 12 days of day and night consultation, wrote these new rules which: 1. Set up an international whaling commission to handle the administrative work of international control. 2. Include a code of regulations on how whales should be caught, where they may be caught, and what whales could be caught. The delegates, however, could not agree on uniform penalties for illegal killing of whales, even when punishment was to be left to the governments of the parties implicated. In fact, the entire whaling agreement is of a voluntary nature, with each government promising that its nationals will observe agreements reached, but having no international group with the authority to assure observance or power to punish.

24-Hour Inspection The accomplishments of the meeting. in spite of this, are considered extensive by those acquainted with the problems of whaling. Thus they did agree there should be 24-hour inspection aboard those factory ships which go out whale-hunting for months at a time. If there is a weakness in that regulation it is that the inspectors do not represent any international body, but are representatives of the governments whose citizens operate the factory ships. Thus, in a sense, the umpires are part of the team operating the ships. One must rely on their word (and this applies to practically all other parts of the agreement) that the convention and protocol signed are being observed.

It was also agreed there should be full reports on what whales were caught, when, and how. Everything was done to encourage exchange of information on whales and whaling. The catching of whales for research was specifically excluded from the rules on whaling—and while this exception could be abused, so could most of the other provisions of the agreement. There was also agreement on definitions, which is important, since there are some nine major types of whales and more than 50 minor differentiations, with rules on capture Varying with the type of whale. Formula Devised Where limits were put on whaling a formula was devised on how to estimate when the quota was reached. Thus, when limits in one area were measured in blue whales it was agreed that one blue, whale equalled two fin whales, or two and a half humpback whales, or six sei whales. The conference produced a number of resolutions and recommendations. The Soviet delegates (who were not present at the opening of the conference but took an active part once they appeared) made three requests for special treatment since they had missed the gun on the hunting season just opened. They wanted, and the conference recommended they get: the right to measure their four-months’ season from the time they got their factory ship into the Antarctic; the right to catch more whales than the limit of 16,000 blue-whale units permits just for this season; the right to catch whatever gray whales they wanted in the Bering and Chukotsk Seas if the meat was used for the “aborigines” of the area. Codification The delegates agreed that “it is inevitable that some whales will be taken illegally,” and therefore called for certain latitude in assessing penalties. But while they could not agree to a uniform system of penalties they did agree all Powers should make them sufficiently severe “to discourage illegal 'killing or taking of whales.” The agreements reached at this meeting were really a,codification of previous agreements, as well as an updating and unifying of rules for whaling. Amendments in the future, it was arranged, should be made by the International Whaling Commission, but with a three-quarter vote necessary to get any substantial changes madesuch as open and closed seasons, open and closed waters, size limits for each species. However, no Power had to accept such amendments until it individually ratified them, so that in effect each Power had a veto over amendrnents—at least as far as they applied

While the code book provides no enforcement agency, it does among ocher things: (1) Forbid killing calves or suckling whales or female whales accompanied by young. (2) Forbid using factory ships or whale catchers to catch whales in certain areas. (3) Forbid catching more than a given number of whale units in certain waters. , (4) Forbid catching whales below specified lengths. (6) Require immediate reporting by radio of each whale caught when caught. (6) Establish the remuneration for crews and gunners, not just on number of whales taken, but on species, size, yield of each whale. , ( T> Require full reporting by each factory ship or land station on whales caught, species, oil and other products derived, length, etc.