5. Address of Welcome
(from "Chairman's Report of the Fourteenth Meeting")
Mr. W.M.F. Vane, M.P., Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Food in the United Kingdom Government welcomed the members
present and referred with particular pleasure to the return to the Commission
of the Netherlands.
The consequence of this and of the agreement made outside the Convention by
the five Antarctic pelagic whaling countries for sharing the pelagic catch in
the Antarctic he considered most important as it should now be possible to
limit the catch to a level the stocks should be able to bear.
The special scientific investigations envisaged on the condition of the
Antarctic stocks would be of vital significance in this connection.
Mr. Vane concluded by hoping that the meeting would achieve agreement on the
details of an International Observer Scheme.
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