VI EEPORT TO THE SECRETARY OF COMMERCE 



MULTILATERAL CONVENTION FOR THE CONSERVATION OF WHALES 



Certain species of whales are practically extinct. The threatened 

 extermination of other species chiefly hunted by modern whalers 

 through the increasing intensity of whaling operations in practically 

 all seas of the globe has aroused biologists in this country and abroad 

 to the need for scientific study to determine control measures to pre- 

 vent extinction and safeguard investments in this great industry. In 

 September, 1927, the economic committee of the council was in- 

 structed by the assembly of the League of Nations, Geneva, Switzer- 

 land, to study the protection of marine fauna and to decide with 

 the aid of experts " whether and in what terms, for what species and 

 in what areas international protection of marine fauna could be 

 established." The outcome of these studies culminated in the unani- 

 mous adoption of a draft convention for the regulation of whaling, 

 the main object of which was to secure the adoption of certain rules 

 to prevent the destruction of the whaling industry as a source of 

 wealth by the greatest possible number of countries. On September 

 19, 1931, the convention was opened for signatures. 



The convention will apply to all the waters of the world including 

 both the high seas and territorial waters, except that any high con- 

 tracting party may require a license of any vessel desirous of using 

 its territorial waters subject to such provisions as may be deemed 

 necessary or desirable, regardless of the nationality of the vessel. 

 The convention will apply only to baleen or whalebone whales, in- 

 cluding the finback, blueback, humpback, and right whales and not 

 the toothed whales such as porpoises, dolphins, killer, and sperm 

 whales. It will prohibit the taking or killing of right whales, which 

 include North Cape whales, Greenland whales, southern right whales, 

 Pacific right whales, and southern pygmy right whales. It also pro- 

 hibits the killing of calves or suckling whales, immature whales, 

 and female whales accompanied by calves or suckling whales. 



The convention will require the fullest possible use of the carcasses 

 of captured whales, including proper equipment for the extraction 

 of the oil from all blubber and from the head and tongue, and at 

 shore stations the use of all residues after the oil has been extracted. 

 Vessels engaged in whaling must be licensed by the high contracting 

 part}^ whose flag they fly. Such vessels must furnish the most com- 

 plete biological data practicable, including date and place of capture, 

 species, sex, length, and other information. Each high contracting 

 party shall obtain from all factories, on land or afloat, under its 

 jurisdiction, returns of the number of whales of each species taken, 

 the amounts of oil of each grade, and the quantities of meal, guano, 

 and other products derived from them and shall communicate such 

 data, including biological data, the name and tonnage of each float- 

 ing factory, the number and aggregate tonnage of the whale catchers, 

 and a list of the land stations in operation to the International 

 Bureau for Whaling Statistics at Oslo, Norway, at convenient inter- 

 vals, at least annually. 



The convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth day following 

 the receipt by the secretary general of the League of Nations of 

 ratifications or accessions on behalf of not less than eight members 

 of the league or nonmember states, including the Kingdom of Nor- 

 way and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. 



