16. Blue Whale Unit Limit
(from "Chairman's Report of the Seventeenth Meeting")
At the Sixteenth Meeting no quota of blue whale units had been agreed for the
1964/65 season, but at the Special Meeting in May 1965 Commissioners had
agreed to recommend to their Governments a quota for the 1965/66 Antarctic
season of 4,500 blue whale units and that further reduction should be made in
the 1966/67 and 1967/68 seasons so that the quota for the 1967/68 season would
be less than the combined sustainable yields of the fin and sei whale stocks
as determined on the basis of more scientific evidence.
During the Seventeenth Meeting this recommendation of the Special Meeting was
implemented by an amendment of the Schedule which was proposed by the
Commissioner for the United Kingdom and seconded by the Commissioner for
Canada.
The amendment was to delete in Paragraph 8(a) of the Schedule the words
"10,000 blue whale units in 1963/64" and add "4,500 blue whale units in
1965/66.
There shall be reductions for the years 1966/67 and 1967/68 that will assure
that the total catch for 1967/68 will be less than the combined sustainable
yields of the fin and sei stocks as determined on the basis of more precise
scientific evidence".
On this amendment being put to the vote all twelve Commissioners present were
found to be in favour of it.
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