2g2 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



A NOTE ON SANCTUARIES 



Although it is hard to say whether the stocks of whales are more in need of protection 

 in one part of the Antarctic than in another, some attention should be given to the ques- 

 tion of sanctuaries, for this is one of the more important (though not necessarily the best) 

 of the possible methods of checking depletion. At the International Whaling Conference 

 of 1938 it was agreed to prohibit, in the first place for a period of two years, the taking of 

 whalebone whales in the Antarctic between the meridians of 70 and 160 W ; that is to say, 

 the greater part of areas I and VI (Fig. 8, p. 257) were closed as a sanctuary. No whaling 

 has been carried on in this part of the Antarctic, and the institution of a sanctuary there 

 was intended to safeguard a reserve of whales against further expansion of the whaling 

 grounds, rather than to curtail the activities of the whaling industry. In view of the 

 tendency of the stocks of whales to segregate in the six Antarctic areas it would seem 

 natural that the boundaries of a sanctuary should coincide with the boundaries of one 

 or more of the areas, for the sanctuary could then be delimited with the expectation of 

 some definite effect on the stock or the whaling industry, and the results could be much 

 better understood than if arbitrary limits were fixed. 



The results of whale marking also have an obvious bearing on the question of 

 sanctuaries. Of the marks recovered in the Antarctic all those returned from Hump- 

 backs and a high proportion of those from Blue and Fin whales were recovered in the 

 same area as that in which they were fired. This implies, as was noted on p. 251, that 

 there is no indiscriminate shuffling of the stocks, and that a reduction in one or more 

 areas should not, for some time, cause a reduction in other areas. It is to be supposed 

 then that if an area were closed to whaling the stocks of whales in that area would main- 

 tain their numbers for a considerable time even if heavy depletion were going on in 

 adjacent areas. The local stock of Humpbacks might remain permanently unaffected if 

 the sanctuary enclosed one of the self-contained groups of that species provided that 

 they were not being hunted at the northern end of their migration route ; but since there 

 is a slow infiltration of Blue and Fin whales from one area to another, the sanctuary 

 might slowly be drained of those species, or indeed if the stocks of whales in adjacent 

 areas were not being reduced too fast the sanctuary might act as a reserve from which 

 the adjacent areas were gradually fed with Blue and Fin (but not Humpback) whales. 

 On the other hand, it is possible that whales learn to avoid the areas of intensive whaling, 

 and might actually move into the sanctuary. Such effects can hardly be predicted, but 

 there seems good reason to believe that reserves of whales can be protected by means of 

 sanctuaries, or the killing of whales might be stopped in certain areas where there were 

 signs of excessive local depletion. The principle might of course be applied only to one 

 species, but it may be suggested that the term ' sanctuary ' is best applied to an area in 

 which hunting is totally prohibited. 



