19. Catching of Whales at Land Stations

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


The catching of Antarctic whales from land stations south of 40° South Latitude as well as in other areas of the Southern Hemisphere received the special attention of the Commission. They considered that these catches had increased in importance in the light of the recent situation of whale stocks in the Antarctic. To deal with this position and after some amendment the Commission accepted a resolution of their Technical Committee set out in the following terms:

With regard to the catch of Antarctic baleen whales from land stations situated south of 40° South Latitude as well as in other areas of the Southern Hemisphere, it is recommended that:

(a)
Taking into consideration the fact that the problem of catching the Antarctic whales at land stations has increased its importance in the light of the recent situation of whale stocks in the Antarctic, it is desirable for the Commission to set up a special group representing member countries concerned with land stations situated south of 40° South Latitude as well as in other areas of the Southern Hemisphere in order to elaborate suggestions to bring into order the catching of whales at such land stations so that this problem may be discussed in detail at the Eighteenth Meeting of the Commission.

(b)
The Commission shall determine the total catch limit of Antarctic pelagic whaling for the 1966/67 season and after, taking into consideration the catch of Antarctic whales from land stations situated south of 40° South Latitude as well as in other areas of the Southern Hemisphere.

(c)
The Commission invites the Governments concerned with land stations situated south of 40° South Latitude as well as in other areas in the Southern Hemisphere to take domestic measures on a voluntary basis so that the level of catch from such land stations for the forthcoming season does not exceed that in the 1964/65 Antarctic season or the average (calculated in blue whale units) of the catches over the last three seasons 1963, 1964 and 1965, outside the Antarctic as the case may be.

(d)
The Commission recommends to the countries at present discussing the problems of national quotas that, for the 1966/67 and 1967/68 seasons, they take into consideration the catches of Antarctic whales from land stations situated south of 40° South Latitude as well as in other areas of the Southern Hemisphere.

The resolution was carried with the assent of all thirteen Commissioners present but with a reservation made by the Commissioner for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics that the fourth point of the resolution should also apply to the 1965/66 season.

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