11. Baleen and Sperm Whale Catch Limits in the North Pacific Ocean

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


The report on the status of stocks in the North Pacific Ocean was considered by the Commissioners for the North Pacific whaling countries and their recommendation that the 1971 catch limits should be reduced by 20% for 1972 was accepted by the Technical Committee. They reported that agreement had also been reached to reduce the limits of both the fin and sei whales by at least another 20% in 1973. The Commission approved the Committee's recommendation to amend the Schedule as follows:-

Paragraph 8(f) Delete "1308" and add "1046", delete "1971" and add "1972".
Paragraph 8(g) Delete "4710" and add "3768", delete "1971" and add "1972".
Delete "the succeeding few years" and add "1973", and
Delete "within a few years".
A proposal submitted by the Commissioner for the USSR that paragraph 8(h) should be deleted was considered by the Technical Committee which recommended that the words "Until the end of 1972" should be inserted at the beginning of the sub-paragraph. The amendment was approved by the Commission.

In 1970 there was agreement between the countries whaling in the North Pacific to limit the catch of sperm whales in 1971 to 13,551 whales. The North Pacific Commissioners now proposed that the catch limit for sperm whales in the North Pacific in 1972 should be 10,841 whales and that this restriction should be included in the Schedule. The Technical Committee supported these proposals and the Commission accepted the recommendation that the following sub-paragraph should be added to paragraph 8 of the Schedule:

"(i)
the number of sperm whales taken in the North Pacific Ocean and dependent waters shall not exceed 10,841 whales in 1972."

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