RORQUALS OR FIN WHALES 24 1 



enough to look beyond the immediate needs of commercial 

 demand. Should such a control not be imposed, it is likely 

 that the present generation will be held responsible for per- 

 mitting the extinction of the largest animals the world has 

 ever known. " To the naturalist," says Sir Sidney Harmer 

 in his ' History of Whaling ', " the extermination of a species 

 must appear a crime unless it is definitely warranted by the 

 necessity of removing it in the interests of humanity. There 

 is no such motive in the case of the large whales." 



After the war whaling in the Antarctic was resumed by 

 Norwegian, British, American, Dutch, Argentinian and, more 

 recently, Japanese companies. Under a "blue-whale unit" 

 quota arrangement by which the taking of 16,000 units was 

 allowed, a figure of 15,2307 units was returned in 1946-47. 

 This was composed in fact of 21,729 whales; 8,870 Blue, 

 12,857 Fin and 2 Sei whales, because under the unit system 1 

 Blue whale = 2 Fin whales = 2.\ Humpbacks = 6 Sei whales. 



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