CONTROL OF WHALING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23542, 4 July 1938, Page 8

CONTROL OF WHALING

The International Whaling Conference is reported to have reached decisions relating to the control of whaling, which provide for a temporary sanctuary for certain species in the Antarctic and for absolute protection for all species in the Arctic. Japan on this occasion is a signatory to the agreement. Circumstances, it seems, are forcing all countries engaged in whaling to realise that arbitrary restriction of catches is the only alternative to the complete destruction of the industry in which they are engaged. When the conference assembled in London about three weeks ago it was informed that, despite the restrictive agreement concluded last year—to

which Japan was not a party—the number of whales killed was 8000 in excess of that for the previous year. The inference, however, is not necessarily that Japan alone was responsible for this heavy slaughter. The Antarctic, as has so often been stated, is a large area, which cannot possibly be policed; and whalemen may find it hard to resist the feeling that since they are prepared to accept the risks of their calling they are also entitled to augment their catch by whatever means may seem expedient. Nevertheless, that attitude, if persisted in, must mean the end of the industry. An estimate that was made last November was that during this season 36 factory ships and 200 chasers would be operating in Antarctic waters. Last season the oil taken represented the destruction of 40.000 whales; and it is idle to pretend that the slaughter can be maintained on that scale. Indeed the feeling in Norway, the home j of whaling, is that the fate of the industry is already sealed. Pelagic whaling has put an end to effective control on a purely territorial basis. The Antarctic has become open to all; and, even if the restrictions approved by the International Confeii ence are respected, it is arguable that the enlargement of the fleets will automatically tend to increase the size of the seasonal catch until exhaustion point is reached. But there is another side to the argument. One authority has suggested that so far as the whale may have any hope of survival, it must lie in the very magnitude of the efforts against him. It takes over 1000 whales a voyage to give even the least of the whaling fleets a cargo that will be profitable. The conclusion is that only when whaling ceases to pay will those of the whales that remain be left in peace.