APPENDIX IV CHAIRMAN'S REPORT OF THE SPECIAL MEETING, MAY, 1965

APPENDIX IV
CHAIRMAN'S REPORT OF THE SPECIAL MEETING, MAY, 1965

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

1. Date and Place
A Special Meeting of the International Whaling Commission was held from 3rd to 6th May, 1965 in the rooms of the International Sugar Council, London, under the Chairmanship of Mr. M.N. Sukhoruchenko (U.S.S.R.).

2. Delegates and Observers
Contracting Governments represented were Argentina, Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Observers were present from Chile, Portugal, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Bureau of International Whaling Statistics, the International Association of Whaling Companies, the Permanent Commission for the South Pacific, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the World Wildlife Fund, the Fauna Preservation Society and the Universities Federation of Animal Welfare.

3. Object of Meeting
No quota of Blue Whale Units for the 1964/65 season in the Antarctic had been agreed at the Sixteenth Meeting. The present Special Meeting was therefore called by the Chairman at the request of several Contracting Governments in order to obtain some agreed total quota which would allow the restoration of the Antarctic whale resources.

4. Adoption of Agenda
An agenda previously circulated by the Secretary was adopted by the Commission.

5. Address of Welcome
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Mr. J. Hoy, addressed the Commission's Opening Session. He pointed out that this Special Meeting of the Commission was unique and that the problems facing them were urgent and pressing. The whaling industry had either to accept drastic restrictions of the Antarctic catch for a considerable time until the stocks of whales recover or to carry on for a few brief years until these stocks are reduced to a level which makes the whaling expeditions unable to operate. Although the Commission has not done as much conservation as required, it must not be forgotten that they had to their credit the complete protection of the humpback and also the protection of the blue whale in the southern hemisphere, except for a very small area. Nevertheless, this protection increased the pressure on the fin and sei whales and it was all the more important to secure a greater measure of protection for them. Mr. Hoy concluded by wishing the Commission every success in its deliberations on this problem.

6. Scientific Estimates of Stocks
An estimate of the state of the stocks of Antarctic baleen whales prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organization Whales Stock Assessment Working Group was available for the Commission's consideration. In addition to this it was found possible to reconstitute the Committee of Four Scientists during the meeting so that this Committee was able to confirm the work of the Food and Agriculture Organization's group and also to give information on proposals put before the meeting for an international Blue Whale Unit quota for the future Antarctic seasons. The relevant scientific documents for this paragraph - IWC/SM/3 (plus addenda) and IWC/SM/13 (plus addenda) - are appended to this report.

7. Committee of Six
The Special Meeting also set up a Committee of six members consisting of the Commissioners of the Antarctic Pelagic Whaling countries and of the Commissioners of Canada, France and the United States. The purpose of this Committee was to try and obtain agreed proposals on the level of the Blue Whale Unit quota for the Antarctic in the light of the information available. The Committee elected Mr. W. Herrington (U.S.A.) to be their Chairman.

8. Proposals before Committee of Six
As a result of these deliberations a number of proposals were put forward. The U.S.S.R. proposed to reduce, commencing with the season 1965/66, the number of expeditions engaged in whaling in 1964/65 by not less than 50 per cent and to cut down the total quota for the Antarctic season 1965/66 to 4,000 Blue Whale Units and not to increase this in the two consecutive seasons. Norway proposed that the Antarctic total quota for the seasons 1965/66, 1966/67 and 1967/68 should be 4,000, 3,000 and 2,000 Blue Whale Units respectively, provided a National Quota agreement would be established for the seasons 1966/67 and 1967/68. Japan proposed that for the 1965/66, 1966/67 and 1967/68 seasons the Antarctic quota should be 4,500, 4,000 and 3,500 Blue Whale Units respectively, provided that the International Observer Scheme was implemented and that the National Quota Scheme was in operation. The U.S.A. proposed that for 1965/66, 1966/67 and 1967/68 the Antarctic quota should be 3,000, 2,000 and 2,000 Blue Whale Units. The U.S.S.R. subsequently made a further proposal in which the total quota for the Antarctic season 1965/66 would be 4,000 Blue Whale Units. This recognized that in the 1965/66 season the quota would not reduce the catch below the substainable yield as determined on the basis of incomplete scientific evidence available at least in regard to sei whales. This quota would be agreed to as a transitional limit to assist the pelagic whaling industries to adjust to the eventual reductions required to begin rebuilding the whale herds. The Commission should recommend to their Governments that they consider favourably further reductions for 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 stocks as determined on the basis of more precise scientific evidence. The U.S.A. then submitted a proposal on the lines of that of the U.S.S.R. just mentioned. This omitted the underlined word "incomplete", inserted "which is incomplete" after "available", omitted the underlined word "eventual" before "reduction" and substituted for the underlined words "consider favourably" the word "support".

9. Final Recommendations on Antarctic Total Quotas
Mr. Herrington reported to the Final Plenary of the meeting that, after close and prolonged discussion and although only the third proposal had failed to get a majority in the voting, it was clear that none of the proposals examined in the Committee of Six were likely to succeed. On further consideration in the Commission and in an atmosphere of agreement, it emerged that Japan would be willing to accept the substitution of 4,500 Blue Whale Units for 4,000 in the last proposal before the Committee of Six. The Commissioner for Norway therefore proposed that the figure 4,500 be substituted for 4,000 in this proposal. This resolution was seconded by the Commissioner for Japan and was carried, there being 4 votes in favour, none against and 9 abstentions. The main proposal thus amended then read as follows:

The International Whaling Commission recommends to the Governments party to the International Whaling Convention a total quota of 4,500 B.W.U. for the Antarctic season of 1965/66. The Commission recognizes that this quota will not in the 1965/66 season reduce the catch below the sustainable yield as determined on the basis of the scientific evidence available, which is incomplete at least in regard to sei whales. This quota is agreed as a transitional limit to assist the pelagic whaling industries to adjust to the reductions required to begin rebuilding the whale herds. All members of the Commission agree that they will recommend to their Governments that they support further reductions for the 1966/67 and 1967/68 seasons that will assure that the quota for the 1967/68 season will be less than the combined sustainable yields of the fin and sei stocks as determined on the basis of more precise scientific evidence.

This resolution was then proposed by the Commissioner for Norway and seconded by the Commissioner for the Argentine. On being put to the vote it was found that all Commissioners attending the meeting were in favour. The resolution was therefore carried unanimously.

10. National Quotas
The Commissioners of the countries party to the Arrangements for the Regulation of Antarctic Pelagic Whaling of 1962, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics agreed to meet in London on 24th June, 1965 to discuss proposals for the allocation of national quotas.

11. The International Observer Scheme
During the meeting mentioned in paragraph 10 above the delegations from the same five countries also proposed to discuss the implementation of the International Observer Scheme.

12. Finance
The Commissioners for Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, whose Governments had previously made special contributions to an extra-ordinary budget for special scientific investigations, agreed to the Commission's request that these funds be drawn upon to meet the cost of the Special Meeting. As there had been no expenditure on special scientific research under the extra-ordinary budget this year and as the ordinary budget was in deficit it was agreed on the proposal of the Commissioner for Canada, seconded by the Commissioner for Japan, that £850 normally transferred from the ordinary budget to the extra-ordinary budget should be retained in the ordinary budget for the current financial year. The Commission noted the view of the Secretary that the question of increasing the annual contribution might have to be examined at the Seventeenth Meeting.

13. Press Release
The Commission decided that a Press Release should be prepared by the Secretary with the approval of the Chairman.

M. N. SUKHORUCHENKO,
Chairman of the Commission.