19. Blue Whale Unit Limit

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


At its Eighteenth Meeting the Commission agreed that the Antarctic pelagic catch in the 1966/67 season should not exceed 3,500 blue whale units and that the total catch for 1967/68 should be less than the combined sustainable yields of the fin and sei whale stocks as determined on the basis of more precise scientific evidence. The Scientific Committee had given a range of 3,100 to 3,600 blue whale units as their best estimate of the present combined sustainable yield of the fin and sei whale stocks in the Antarctic and recommended that the limit be set well below the present combined sustainable yields of the fin and sei stocks according to the principle set forth in the Schedule to the Convention. In the light of its consideration of the Scientific Committee's report the Technical Committee recommended that paragraph 8(a) of the Schedule should be amended to read:
"The number of baleen whales taken during the open season in waters south of 40° South Latitude by whale catchers attached to factory ships under the jurisdiction of the Contracting Governments shall not exceed 3,100 blue whale units in 1967/68".
The Chairman of the Technical Committee proposed and the Commissioners for Argentina and Mexico seconded the adoption of the Committee's recommendation. The Commissioner for the United Kingdom, seconded by the Commissioner for the United States of America, proposed an amendment to substitute 3,200 for 3,100 blue whale units. The Commissioner for Japan, seconded by the Commissioner for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, proposed a further amendment to substitute 3,300 blue whale units for 3,100. The amendment moved by the Commissioner for Japan was rejected with seven votes against the proposal, three in favour, and five abstentions. The amendment moved by the Commissioner for the United Kingdom was then accepted by eleven votes to two with two abstentions. With this decision the existing paragraph 8(a) was therefore replaced by the following:
"The number of baleen whales taken during the open season in waters south of 40° South Latitude by whale catchers attached to factory ships under the jurisdiction of the Contracting Governments shall not exceed 3,200 blue whale units in 1967/68".

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