"TOO LATE"

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 55, 6 March 1937, Page 11

"TOO LATE"

WHALING IN THE SOUTH

EXTINCTION IMMINENT

(From "The Post's" Representative.) ■ ' ' SYDNEY, February 23.

Captain J. X, Davis, Commonwealth Director of Navigation, who has'been a member of many expeditions to Antarctica, predicted the almost complete extinction of whales in the Antarctic within a few years, because of the unrestricted killing by' Japanese fleets.

Captain Davis was commenting on a message from Japan stating that a Japanese whaling firm had placed an order for a whaling factory ship of 21,000 tons, and a fleet of chasers, to supplement the large squadron of Japanese whalers now operating in the Southern Ocean.

"To preserve the whaling grounds of the world 28 British and Norwegian companies formed an agreement to; protect the industry through the regulation of catches and of seasons,"'said Captain Davis.' "The Japanese and German companies disregard this agreement, and operate when and how they please. At present a large fleet of Japanese craft is operating in- the Southern Ocean, and there is little doubt that whales in Antarctic waters will be almost extinct within a few years. The whaling industry is doomed already; The northern grounds have been fished out because of unrestricted killing and the southern grounds will soon follow."

"Any suggejtion that Australia should enter now into the Antarctic whaling industry is ridiculous," Captain Davis continued. "If Australia had-realised the potentialities fifteen years ago, it would have been wise to- do so then. Now it is too late."