17. Taking of Whales for Scientific Purposes

(from "Chairman's Report of the Fifteenth Meeting")


Both the Scientific Committee and the Infractions Sub-Committee of the Technical Committee had directed attention to the provisions of Article VIII of the Convention. The Scientific Committee noted in paragraph 15 of their report that there had been recent instances of special permits having been given by Contracting Governments for the taking of much larger numbers of whales under this Article than in the past.

The Committee agreed that:

(i)
wherever possible the Committee should be consulted before the granting of such permits;
(ii)
the Committee should always be advised at once, by correspondence or by report to one of its meetings of each permit given, showing the reasons for such permits;
(iii)
the numbers shown in each permit should be the lowest necessary for the purposes indicated in the permit;
(iv)
the Committee should be informed fully and specifically of the results obtained by taking whales under each such permit.

A discussion was held on this subject by the Commission. This centred on a proposal by the Commissioner for New Zealand and seconded by the Commissioner for Australia that the Commission generally endorse the proposals in paragraph 15 of the Scientific Committee's report and instruct the Secretary to write to all member governments asking for their comments on how it could be operated in practice. Finally the proposal was agreed without objection.

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