HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 45 



restricted to 15,000 Blue Whale Units^ (one B.W.U. being equal to i Blue 

 Whale, 2 Fin Whales or 2-5 Humpbacks), and since nowadays by far the 

 greatest number of whales killed is made up of Fin Whales, the figure 

 is equivalent to just under 30,000 animals. Apart from this quota, however, 

 whales are also caught by land stations in South Georgia, Norway, 

 Iceland, Greenland, the Faroes, Morocco, Spain, Portugal, Madeira, the 

 Azores, Gabon and Sao Thome, South Africa, Brazil, Peru, Chile, British 

 Columbia, Labrador, Newfoundland, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, 

 China, the Bonin Islands and the Kuril Islands. In addition, a few 

 Japanese and Russian mother ships still operate in the North Pacific 

 (Fig. 15). Some of the land stations may close down when prices are 

 low or catches bad, but the moment the industry picks up they resume 

 their activities. Thus during the 1952- 1953 season, 18 factory ships, 50 

 land stations and 375 catcher boats caught 43,669 whales all ov-er the 

 world, of which 4,208 were Blue Whales, 25,553 Fin Whales, 2,172 Sei 

 Wliales, 3,322 Humpback Whales, 8,3 1 7 Sperm Whales, and 97 belonged to 

 other species. They supplied a total of 420,000 tons of oil and 47,000 tons of 

 sperm oil, but this is less than 2 per cent of the annual world production of 

 fats and oils, and only 4-5 per cent of the world production of animal fats. 



If we realize how many whales lose their lives each year, we may feel 

 pangs of conscience, and become perturbed that if things are allowed to 

 continue in this way whales may become extinct or be reduced to such 

 numbers that the whole industry may fold up. Are we perhaps killing the 

 goose that lays the golden egg ? 



And when all is said and done, it is the golden egg which tips the 

 balance. In 1924 and in 1927 the League of Nations made sustained 

 efforts to produce some international agreement, but all attempts proved 

 fruitless. On 21st June, 1929, Norway passed a law regulating the national 

 catch, and on 1 8th January, 1936, the so-called Geneva Convention was 

 accepted by many whaling countries. The Convention was superseded on 

 8th June, 1937, by the London Conference, and on 2nd December, 1946, 

 delegates of the member states met in W^ashington and founded the 

 International Whaling Commission, with a secretariat in London. The 

 Commission has meanwhile met twelve times: seven times in London, 

 and once each in Oslo, Cape Town, Tokyo, Moscow and The Hague. 

 The eighteen affiliated countries are : Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, 

 Canada, Denmark, France, Holland, Iceland, Japan, Mexico, New 

 Zealand, Norway, Panama, South Africa, Sweden, the U.S.A. and the 

 U.S.S.R.- Jointly, they make up by far the largest proportion of whaling 



^ Owing to some serious objections this overall limit was abandoned in 1959. 

 ^While the English edition of this book was being prepared, Norway and Holland 

 withdrew from the Commission. Later on Norway cancelled its withdrawal. 



