WHALES, SEALS AND WALRUSES 



in recent years show that the world's whale population 

 is menaced by the increasing introduction of efficient 

 methods of whale catching. We can only hope that the 

 international whaling agreements governing the season's 

 catch are strictly adhered to by all parties. 



Forty-five states, meeting at the International Tech- 

 nical Conference on the Conservation of the Living 

 Resources of the Sea in 1955, held in Rome, agreed that 

 measures to secure conservation should be based on 

 scientific information; that such conservation should be 

 brought about by conventions between states ; and that 

 there should be international co-operation in scientific 

 research — but in subsequent sessions jettisoned its own 

 proposals by agreeing that coastal states could adopt con- 

 servation measures unilaterally. 



Strongly reminiscent of world conferences on dis- 

 armament, all such meetings fail to achieve their purpose 

 while individual nations persist in policies based on their 

 own selfish interests. The official world figures of whaling 

 results from 1946 to 1955 tell their own sad story. Man 

 is increasingly exploiting whale-slaughter for profit, blind 

 to the fact that he is gradually exterminating the animals 

 which bring him that profit. 



During the year 1946-47, 23,043 Antarctic pelagic 

 whales were slaughtered ; 2,550 Antarctic South Georgia 

 whales; and 9,227 elsewhere than in the Antarctic. With 

 only two or three fluctuations, the figures have steadily 

 increased, until the latest available ones in each category 

 are Antarctic pelagic (1954-55) 34,388; Antarctic South 

 Georgia (same period) 3,266; and elsewhere than 

 Antarctic (1953-54) 16,391 — an increase of 19,125 

 whales in the total figures (over a third more whales 

 slaughtered) in the ten years. 



The whale is now profiting man increasingly during its 

 lifetime, as scientific facts gained from its structure and 

 habits are applied to the welfare of mankind. A typical 

 instance of this is the scientific expedition which sailed 



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