204 



on their condition, on the level of sustainable yield, and on conservation meas- 

 u^s that would increase the sustantinable yield. The tnired states took a 

 leading i«rt in the deci.^ion to establish this committee. lu taking this action, 

 he cSnmission declared its intention that the Antarctic catch hmit should 

 l»e brought into line with the scientific findings not later than JiUy 1%4. Fo lou ing 

 the f-iilure of the Commission to honor this commitment the L nited states and 

 others brought about a special meeting in May of 1965. at which it was agreetl 

 that the Antarctic quota would be progressively reduced so that the figure for 

 1967 /6s would he less than the combined sustainable yield of the fin and sei 

 whale stocksr-which by then were the only baleen whale species permitted to 



l>e taken in that area. _^ ,,- i, ^ f „_„, 



The United States has also taken a leading role in establishment of measure^, 

 for conservation of the North Pacific whale stocks, to which increasing effort had 

 l.een devoted following the decline of whaUng in the Autarctic Initial discussion 

 and action with respect to North Pacific whales were confined to representatives 

 of the four countries— the United States. Canada. .Japan and U.S.S.R.— primarily 

 concerned The United States representative has acted as chairman of this 

 North Pacific group since its inception. Through these efforts catch quotas 

 have been established in the North Pacific, beginning with voluntary arrangements 

 between these four countries in 1968 covering the 1969 season. These quotas 

 were reduced for the following season and the Commission itself adopted 

 regulations providing quotas, reduced in each case, for the 1971 and 19.2 seasons. 



4. Specific information on activities of th^ International Whaling Commission. 

 With regard to the various items of information requested concerning the 



Commissions activities and United States proposals, we have reviewed the 

 documentation and have concluded that a complete and detailed response would 

 require extensive research going far beyond the time when such information 

 would be needed bv vou. Taking this into account and after consultation with 

 a member of your' Committee staff, we suggest that the provision of certain 

 Commission reports and documents might serve the purpose. Accordingly, we 

 enclose a copv of the Chairman's report to the Commission for each of the 

 annual meetings during the period 1956 through 1969. (The reports of the 

 1970 and 1971 meetings are not yet available and substitute materials have 

 been provided. » These reports provide a rather detailed summary of Commission 

 activities and of Commission actions at the annual meeting, including recom- 

 mendations of the Scientific Committee which were available for consideration. 

 In addition, there are enclosed for each of the annual meetings beginning with 

 1966. a copy of the report of the Commission's Technical Committee, of the 

 Scientific Committee and of the Commissioners from the North Pacific member 

 nations. The Technical Committee Ls a kind of committee of the whole which 

 considers in the first instance the information available and formulates pro- 

 posals for reference to the main body, and its report will, therefore, provide 

 additional detail as to the nature of the alternatives available for action and 

 as to the nature of the alternatives available for action and as to the positions 

 of the various members. As of possible interest, there is also enclosed a copy 

 of a Commission report in connection with the 1956 annual meeting which 

 summarizes the origins, objectives and provisions of the Whaling Convention. 



5. Information on the killing of marine mammals by nations not parties to 



existing agreements 

 Whaling operations take place imder the jurisdiction of five governments 

 which are not parties to the Whaling Convention. The.se are Chile. Peru. Brazil. 

 Spain and Portugal. Chile and Peru signed the Convention but did not ratify : 

 Brazil was formerly a party but withdrew in 1966 : Spain and Portugal were 

 not signatories. These countries regularly report their catches to the Inter- 

 national Bureau for Whaling Statistics at Sandefjord. Norway, which acts 

 as a data-gathering c-enter for the Commi-ssion through the courtesy of the 

 Norwegian Government. For example, in the 1970 season the catches by these 

 cotmtries were as follows : 



Chile— 103 sei whales. 



Peru — So fin whales ; 414 sei whales : 1.4.36 sperm whales. 



Brazil — 26 sei whales : 76 .sperm whales : 701 minke whales. 



Spain — 261 sperm whales : 1.52 un.specified baleen whales. 



Portugal — 205 sperm whales (Azores) ; 44 sperm whales (Madeira). 



These figures compare with world totals for the 1969/70 Antarctic season and 

 the 1970 sea.son el.sewhere of 5,057 fin whales. 11.195 sei whales and 25,842 

 sperm whales. 



