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

"The number of baleen whales taken during the open season caught in waters south of 40° South Latitude by whale catchers attached to factory ships under the jurisdiction of the Contracting Governments shall not exceed 4,000 blue whale units in 1964/1965, 3,000 blue whale units in 1965/1966 and 2,000 blue whale units in 1966/1967".

To this substantive motion was added the following amendment proposed by the Commissioner for Japan and seconded by the Commissioner for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics:

"The number of baleen whales taken during the open season caught in waters south of 40° South Latitude by whale catchers attached to factory ships under the jurisdiction of Contracting Governments shall not exceed 8,500 blue whale units in 1964/1965".

In its turn this amendment was subjected to the following amendment proposed by the Commissioner for Norway and seconded by the Commissioner for Iceland:

"The number of baleen whales taken during the open season caught in waters south of 40° South Latitude by whale catchers attached to factory ships under the jurisdiction of Contracting Governments shall not exceed 6,000 blue whale units in 1964/1965".

On being put to the vote the second amendment was lost by 12 votes to 1, with 1 abstention, the first amendment was lost by 11 votes to 3, and the substantive resolution was lost by 10 votes to 4, the 4 countries voting against it being those at present engaged in Antarctic whaling. Somewhat later in the meeting the Commissioner for the Netherlands seconded by the Commissioner for Norway Proposed a further amendment, that:

"The number of baleen whales taken during the open season caught in waters south of 40° South Latitude by whale catchers attached to factory ships under the jurisdiction of the Contracting Governments shall not exceed 8,000 blue whale units in any one season provided that no lower catch limit is established".

This proposal was also lost by 10 votes to 3 with 1 abstention.

The resolution proposed by the Commissioner for the United States was compatible with the scientific advice which the Commission at their meeting in 1960 had undertaken to implement by July, 1964. The case of those who voted against this resolution, however, was based on Article V of the Convention which states that regulations with respect of the conservation and utilization of whale resources "shall take into consideration the interests of the consumers of whale products and the whaling industry" (Paragraph 2(d)). Some of the opponents contended that the condition of their whaling industries could not support the catch restrictions recommended.

At the end of the meeting the Commissioners of Japan, the Netherlands, Norway and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, who had conferred separately about a voluntary catch limit of blue whale units for the season 1964/65, agreed to recommend their Governments to declare jointly that the total number of baleen whales taken during 1964/1965 should not exceed 8,000 blue whale units.

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