3. Address of Welcome

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


At the opening session as address was given by Mr. Norman Buchan, the Joint Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Scotland. In the course of his remarks, Mr. Buchan referred to the reduction from 100,000 blue whales in the oceans 30 years ago to about one per cent of that number. The Commission had banned the killing of the blue and humpback whale in all areas in the last two seasons and had drastically reduced the Antarctic pelagic catch limit. While these were notable achievements still further cuts were necessary if there was to be a real improvement in the situation. This was the most important decision the Commission would take at this meeting. It was very unfortunate that the International Observer Scheme agreed in 1963 never came into being, and he hoped that as a result of its discussions at this meeting the Commission would be able to implement a scheme in the near future.

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