12. Baleen Catch Limits in the North Pacific

(from "Chairman's Report of the Twenty-Second Meeting")


The Scientific Committee's review of the new assessments of fin and sei whales in the North Pacific Ocean had been considered by the North Pacific Group of Commissioners who had Agreed that for 1971 catches of fin whales would be reduced by 10% and sei and Bryde's whales combined by 15%, giving limits of 1,308 and 4,710 respectively. Because of the practical difficulties in implementing these limits it was agreed that either of them might be exceeded by 10% provided an appropriate reduction was made in the other catch. The Technical Committee accepted the Group's proposal that the agreement should be implemented by amendment of the Schedule and the Commission approved the addition of the following sub-paragraphs to paragraph 8 as recommended by the Committee:

"(f) Subject to sub-paragraph (h), the number of fin whales taken in the North Pacific Ocean and dependent waters excluding the catch in the East China Sea shall not exceed 1,308 whales in 1971.
(g) Subject to sub-paragraph (h), the number of sei and Bryde's whales combined taken in the North Pacific Ocean and dependent waters shall not exceed 4,710 whales, in 1971. The numbers taken in the succeeding few years shall be further adjusted on the basis of the latest scientific assessment so that within a few years the catch shall be less than the estimate of the sustainable yield.
(h) The catch specified in either sub-paragraph (f) or (g) may be exceeded by not more than 10% provided that an appropriate reduction is made in the catch specified in the other sub-paragraph".

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