11. Sperm Whale Stocks

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


As proposed at the Nineteenth Meeting a workshop meeting of the IWC/FAO Assessment Group was held in Rome in March 1968 for the assessment of sperm whale stocks. The Group's report was studied by the Scientific Committee which also had before it an additional assessment of North Pacific sperm whale stocks by the Canadian scientist. On the proposal of the Chairman of the Technical Committee seconded by the Commissioner for Australia, the following recommendations of the Committee which had been endorsed by the Technical Committee were adopted:

(a)
That no change be made in the size limit of sperm whales for the present;
(b)
That further expansion of sperm whale catches not based on scientific evidence was not desirable;
(c)
That there should be no further increase in the North Pacific sperm whale catches;
(d)
That F.A.O. be asked to complete the machine processing of sperm whale data and circulate the results to all members;
(e)
That members should come to the next meeting of the Scientific Committee prepared to discuss the question of further meetings on sperm whale biology and stock assessments.


12. The Commission took note of the reference in the Technical Committee's report to the suggestion by the Commissioner for Australia that countries should consider withdrawing their objections to Paragraph 6(5) of the Schedule, and the responses to it by the pelagic whaling countries.

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