14. North Pacific Whale Stocks
(from "Chairman's Report of the Fifteenth Meeting")
The Working Party on the North Pacific whale stocks, which met before the
meeting of the Scientific Committee, submitted a report approved and
recommended by the latter and also by the Technical Committee.
Signs of decline in the exploited species were not yet detectable, but the
recent increase in the number and size of catchers in the North Pacific made
it urgent that data should be readily available for determining whether a
decline was taking place.
Plans for future stock assessments were being made to answer such questions.
The Commission agreed that good work was in progress, in this direction, and
accepted the report.
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