527 



The Chair observes this completes the hearing. 



We certainly thank you for your testimony. We will adjourn until 

 tomorrow. 



(The following material was submitted for inclusion in the record :) 



Statement of Dr. Geoege L. Small, Richmond College, City University of 



New York, Staten Island, N.Y. 



During the last 25 years the slaughter of the whales of the world has been 

 virtually unrestrained. Year after year the catch exceeded the sustainable yield 

 of all commercially valuable species. As a consequence the great Blue whale 

 is on the verge of biological extinction and the same may be true of tJbie hump- 

 back whale. In addition, the stocks of fin, sei, and sperm whales have been 

 reduced to pitifully small remnants of their former populations. Though they 

 have been decimated they are still being killed at a rate above the sustainable 

 yield. If this continues much longer they will face certain commercial extincftion, 

 and possibly worse. 



Did the whalers responsible for this tragedy operate without restraint? They 

 were subject, theoretically, to the regulations of the International Whaling Com- 

 mission, but in reality they controlled that organization to such a degree that 

 virtually made their own rules. The International Whaling Commission was a 

 failure. Its annual meetings were a farce that never helped the whales of tlie 

 world. Those meetings were only served to delude the general public into 

 believing there was effective protection for the whales. Now the truth is known. 

 The greatest mammals of the high seas have been all but wiped out. 



What specifically caused the failure of the Whaling Commission? 



(1) Each member nation had the right to veto any proposed conservation regu- 

 lation that it deemed too restrictive. Time and again, for example, Japan vetoed 

 even the slightest respite for species that were struggling for survival. 



(2) Each nation was represented by one commissioner. For years, and still 

 today, the Japanese commissioner is appointed not by the Japanese government 

 but by the Japanese whaling companies whom he represents. This blatant 

 mockery of the principles on which the Whaling Commission was founded has 

 never been challenged. 



(3) Many whaling nations who do not like even the weak regulations of the 

 Whaling Commission refuse to join it. They make their own ineffective rvdes and 

 continue the slaughter. I refer to such nations as Chile and Peru. 



(4) Many nations have no desire to prevent the extermination of the whales 

 of the world. For example, Japan agreed to stop the killing of blue whales in 

 June, 1967. In October that same year it granted permission to its own whalers 

 to form corporations in Chile where they could kill blue whales under the flag 

 of a nation that had not agreed to stop the killing. 



(5) The International Whaling Commission is powerless to enforce its own 

 rules. Each member nation is supposed to police its own whalers but this has 

 rarely ever been done effectively. Today the Soviet Union and Japan are 

 the major whaling nations and there is much evidence that neither of them 

 pays much attention to the regulations. Both have been observed killing whales 

 of species facing biological extinction. 



(6) The International Whaling Commission is continuously short of funds. Its 

 budget is miniscule and is wholly inadequate to its research needs. 



In summary, the whales of the world have been slaughtered without restraint. 

 If they don't get some protection soon they will go the way of the buffalo and 

 the pas.senger pigeon. There is only one species of large whale whose population 

 seems to be increasing and which is no longer in danger of extinction. That is 

 the California gra.v whale. It was saved by the United States Congress that gave 

 it complete protection in 1986. It is my hope and prayer that the Congress will 

 again come to the aid of other cetacean species of the high seas. 



