THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 1948. ANOTHER THREAT TO WHALING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26793, 9 June 1948, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 1948. ANOTHER THREAT TO WHALING

The peremptory notice from General MacArthur’s headquarters in Tokio that a third Japanese whaling expedition to the Antarctic is contemplated next season should surely bestir the countries bound by the Whaling Agreement to action more positive than the fruitless protests that have been made in the past. The first, post-war Japanese fleet was despatched at General MacArthur’s instruction despite the vigorous protests of the United Kingdom, Norway, Australia and New Zealand, for the ruthless and wasteful methods employed by the Japanese whalers before the war had caused havoc among the whale population. Last year, notwithstanding the assurances that had been given by the American authorities in Japan regarding prior consultations, and in disregard of the adverse report on Japanese, whaling methods submitted by the Australian observer with the 1946 -47 expedition, two fleets were sent.. These brought the total of expeditions in Antarctic waters in the 1947-48 season to seventeen—nine Norwegian, four British, two Japanese, one Dutch and one Russian. Ift addition Great Britain, Norway and Argentina each operated one shore station in the southern seas. The complete returns for the season have not yet been published, but. the figures available at the present time suggest that most of the fleets secured their maximum quota. The Antarctic fisheries cannot support exploitation more intensive than that laid down in the articles of the International Whaling Agreement. The intrusion of more expeditions—even if they observe the rules —will simply mean that others will either have to catch fewer whales or exceed the over-all quota. The first alternative would be. uneconomic—and unlikely—and the second would be disastrous for the future of the industry. New Zealand, as one of the signatories to the Whaling Convention and trustee of the Ross Sea Dependency, has very definite responsibilities to the whaling industry which, up to the present time, successive Governments have successfully managed to shirk. Regulations were framed in 1929 to govern the activities of expeditions operating .in the Dependency, but the ability of the Dominion to enforce them has been that of a policeman locked in his own cell while criminals roam at large. Last season, for instance, whales were scarce on some of the recognised grounds around South Georgia, and there is every reason to believe that several, at least, of the fleets entered the Ross Sea. But unless the commander of each expedition submits an honest report of . his voyaging, together with an exact indication- of the locality of each catch, New Zealand will lose a considerable sum in licence fees and royalties. If the whaling industry is to be saved from the fate it has suffered in northern waters New Zealand will have to send to the Ross Sea Dependency an authority to enforce the regulations; and this can be done best by sending its own expedition to those waters and by ordering off the fleets of those nations which do not obey the rules.