13. International Observer Scheme, Infractions (1974)

13. International Observer Scheme, Infractions

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

A summary of the reports of the observers appointed under the International Observer Scheme and details of the infractions reported by the whaling countries for the 1973 and 1973/74 (Antarctic) seasons were considered by a sub-committee appointed by the Technical Committee. The sub-committee pointed out that the introduction of the Observer scheme had immensely increased the accuracy of the reporting of the more minor infractions which tended to be ignored to some extent in the past. It had brought to light a number of weaknesses and misunderstandings in the interpretation of the intention behind certain paragraphs of the Schedule. The sub-committee considered a number of these and made proposals.

(i) The quantity of meat and the geographical limitations of the area where it may be consumed to qualify for the minimum length allowance specified in paragraph 16 of the Schedule were not clearly defined. The sub-committee considered that the intention is that the meat must be consumed in reasonable quantities in the country in which the land station is located; it is not intended to be related to specific whales, thus the lower size limit applies to all whales taken at that land station if it has an established local outlet for its meat. The Commission agreed that the Secretary should acquaint the observers concerned with this interpretation.

(ii) Member governments and observers are required to report "lost whales" which are not defined in the Schedule. The Commission accepted the sub-committee's recommendation that the following definition should be included as the last line in paragraph 1 of the Schedule " 'lost whales' .... means whales that have been taken but not delivered to the land station or factory ship".

(iii) Attention was drawn to the difficulty in determining whether whales are lactating before death and the need to define "milk filled whales". The sub-committee noted particularly in the case of sperm whales the repeated incidence of lactating whales in which the harpoonist denied all knowledge of accompanying calves, and pointed out that milk remaining in the gland after the calf had been weaned is not defined. The Commission asked the Scientific Committee to give consideration to this problem.

(iv) Observers had reported on the difficulties experienced in complying with the requirement of the Schedule when measuring whales on a concrete platform. The sub-committee recommended the substitution of paragraph 21 of the Schedule by a new paragraph which would overcome this difficulty and also expressed the measurements in metric units. This was accepted by the Scientific Committee and the Technical Committee. It was approved by the Commission with the addition of the words "in a straight line" after "taut" in the fourth sentence. The text of the new paragraph is given in the Appendix to this report.

With regard to the infractions report, the sub-committee noted that the decrease in number reported at the last meeting had continued and considered the position satisfactory. It made the point that the number of undersized whales had decreased further while the number of lactating whales had increased slightly particularly in the case of sperm whales.

The Commissioner for Australia informed the Commission that there were to be discussions with the object of including Brazil in the agreement between his country and South Africa for the exchange of observers in the Southern Hemisphere outside the Antarctic.