MARINE MAMMALS — KELLOGG 313 



in whaling, expressed their serious concern at the increasing magni- 

 tude of "whaling operations in the Antarctic, which had now reached 

 such proportions that restrictive measures were urgently required 

 if the future of the industry was not to be gravely endangered. 



Although there were many difficulties in the way of adoption of such 

 measures, it was recognized that, in the interests of conserving the 

 stocks of whales, this could bo accomplished only by international 

 action. On April 3, 1930, a committee of experts met in Berlin at the 

 request of the Economic Committee of the League of Nations to con- 

 sider the feasibility of international regulation of the whaling in- 

 dustry. The draft convention prepared at this conference, after hav- 

 ing been modified in certain minor respects, was ratified by 17 countries 

 and acceded to by 8 others. This convention, however, did not come 

 into force until January IG, 1935. By its provisions, full protection 

 was given to all kinds of right whales ; the taking or killing of calves, 

 and females accompanied by calves, was prohibited ; and the fullest 

 possible use of the carcasses of all whales taken was required. 



The first restriction in pelagic whaling operations, however, came 

 in 1932, purely as the result of economic necessity. The whale oil 

 market was glutted and the Norwegian fleet remained in port. The 

 following season, influenced in part by the world financial crisis, all 

 the companies, with one exception, agreed to restrict production to 

 2,000,000 barrels of whale oil. 



Faced with the prospect that there would be no voluntary limitation 

 of production during the 1934^35 season, the Norwegian Government 

 found it necessary to consider amendments to the Norwegian Whaling 

 Act to regulate the industry. It was recognized that the high standard 

 of efficiency attained by the factory ships threatened the perpetuation 

 of whale stocks. Consequently the Norwegian Whaling Act of 1934 

 conferred on the Crown the authority to restrict the whaling season 

 to certain periods of the year, to enforce total utilization of the whale 

 carcass, and to prohibit the killing of undersized whales. 



In 1936, the Governments of Great Britain and Norway pledged 

 themselves to curtail the season everywhere south of 40° south latitude 

 to the 90 days between December 8 and March 7, and to limit the 

 number of whale-catcher boats operating with each floating factory. 

 Repeated conferences between officials of these two Governments led 

 to the calling of the International Conference for the Regulation of 

 Whaling held at London during June 1937. Stringent regulations, 

 or "game laws," covering the minimum legal size for whales of each 

 species, and prohibiting the killing of females accompanied by calves, 

 as well as all right and gray whales, were drafted for approval by 

 the Governments of South Africa, Argentina, Australia, Germany, 

 Great Britain, Eire, New Zealand, and the United States. This agree- 

 ment came into force as regards the United States on May 18, 1938. 



