PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
LCO 885
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
22 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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cetaceans, porpoises, and dolphins are hunted in the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean.
A reference on the subject will be made to the Government of India, and a further letter will be sent to you on the receipt of their reply,
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I have, &c.,
FRANCIS C. DRAKE, Secretary,
No. 23.
Revenue and Statistics Department.
MEMORANDUM ON POINTS TO BE CONSIDERED BY THE INTERDE- PARTMENTAL COMMITTEE.
The formation is contemplated of an Inter-Departmental Committee to consider measures to be laid before an International Conference with a view to the protection of whales and the regulation of the whaling industry. It is suggested that the attention of the Committee should be drawn on behalf of the Colonial Office to the following points :-
Legislation in pursuance of Conference. In general the Governments concerned might be asked, in the usual phraseology, to "take or to propose to their respective Legislatures the necessary steps to give effect to the decisions of the Conference. But it might be provided that countries which have no vessels engaged in whaling, and in whose territorial waters no whaling is carried on, should be under no obligation to introduce legislation until one or other of these conditions ceases to be fulfilled. There are some thirty Colonies in which legislation seems to be unnecessary at present. Such legislation should apply to whaling vessels of the country in question, both in its territorial waters and on the high seas, to the crews of such vessels, whatever their nationality, and to vessels of other countries while in the territorial waters. It is probable that Governments can sufficiently control foreign vessels licensed by them without being given jurisdiction over these vessels in respect of offences committed on the high seas.
The general idea underlying these suggestions is that whaling cannot be com- mercially carried on without the use of a harbour for treating the carcases, and that it is thereby brought under the control of the Power owning the harbour.
There is an exception in the case of the sperm whaling industry, in which whale This industry is carried on carcases are to some extent boiled down on the high seas. mainly by sailing vessels from the United States, and has greatly declined in import- ance. It is probable that the peculiar character of the products would enable it to be controlled to a considerable extent by the country whose vessels are concerned.
Capture of calves and of whales with calves.-It appears to be desirable to ask the Powers to agree to prohibit the capture of calves or other than well-grown whales, and of whales accompanied by calves. Similar provisions are generally found in existing whaling legislation. It is understood to be impracticable to protect female whales unaccompanied by calves owing to the difficulty, prior to capture, of distin- guishing them from males. A letter from the Stipendiary Magistrate of South Georgia, relative to this difficulty, will be laid before the Committee.
Licensing of whaling vessels.—It also appears to be desirable to ask the Powers
to provide, so far as they have not already done so,
(1) That no vessel shall be permitted to take whales without a licence.
(2) That no vessel not licensed to take whales may be employed to bring in or
tow whale carcases.
(3) That no vessel shall be permitted to treat, boil down, or manufacture whale
carcases without a licence.
(4) That all such licences shall specify the names and descriptions of the vessels licensed, the purposes for which they are respectively licensed, the period for which, and the waters in which, the licences are valid. As far as steam vessels are concerned, this is little more than common form in whaling legislation, but the position of sailing vessels should be considered with special reference to the New Bedford sperm whale industry.
The operations on the high seas of vessels of one Power holding licences from another Power will require special consideration.
• No. 12.
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Shore factories-With regard to shore factories it is suggested that the Powers should be asked to compel the utilisation of the whole carcase of the whale, including the residues of the boilings of the flesh and of the bones, by means of legislation, to come into force as soon as possible in the case of new factories, and in the case of existing factories with a maximum delay of five years.
Floating factories.-The subject of the regulation of floating factories as distinct from shore factories presents some difficulty.
Three types of floating factory are known. The oldest type is fitted only with open vats, and can utilise only the blubber. A newer type is also fitted with pressure boilers, and can extract oil from the flesh and bones. Sometimes the pressure boilers and the open vats are carried on separate vessels working together. A third type carries, in addition to the plant already mentioned, tunnel driers for the utilisation (as guano, cattle food, &c.) of the residues from the boilings; but this type is still in the experimental stage, and the Colonial Office knows of only one example, the S.S. Restitution" of Messrs. Irvin and Company. Further details with regard to floating factories will be found in various papers which will be laid before the Committee.
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The use of the oldest type of floating factory involves great waste, and may probably be regarded as obsolete. On the other hand, the commercial success of the third type is not yet proved; the utilisation of the residues of the boilings upon a vessel is expensive, and it may well be that this utilisation will only pay in the more favourable whaling fields.
It seems best to press for the adoption of the second type, and possibly also for provision that the cubic capacity of the pressure boilers shall bear a minimum ratio (to be fixed) to that of the open vats.
The experts attached to the International Fur Seal Conference recommended the total prohibition of floating factories. This course appears to be impracticable. There are fields of Antarctic, if not of Arctic, whaling where the ice absolutely precludes the establishment of shore factories; and in the exploration of new whaling fields it would, as a commercial proposition, be highly imprudent to set up a shore factory until the possibilities of the field had been fully proved.
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Poaching-The Committee will also, no doubt, wish to consider the question of poaching, or the use for whaling of the territorial waters of one Power by the subjects of another Power without a licence from the first Power. In the experience of the Colonial Office no instance of such poaching has yet occurred, but if it did occur, there are many localities where it might be difficult to deal with. For example, suppose a foreign unlicensed company were to start whaling in Graham's Land. The Government of the Falkland Islands would certainly hear of the matter from licensed whalers through its Customs Officer at Deception Island, but it would have no force at its disposal to stop the unlawful whaling, and even if it had the force, the news would probably not reach it in time for effectual action to be taken that season. employ a special vessel to police the whaling grounds would be too expensive; such a task is not one properly appertaining to a ship of war, and the Admiralty would decline to risk a ship in such dangerous and uncharted waters. On the score of risk they have already declined to send a ship to South Georgia on a different errand. It would be hopeless to attempt to waylay the poacher on his voyage home even if international agreement permitted this. At present, without international agree- ment, diplomatic representations might well prove useless. The question might be adequately solved by means of the licensing legislation; but lest this should not be the case, it might be worth while to ask the Powers to put on record that they will discourage poaching by their subjects so far as their municipal law permits, and that, if an actual instance of poaching by its subjects is brought to the notice of any Power, and its municipal law is insufficient to enable it to prevent the recurrence of such poaching, it will introduce legislation to supply the omission.
Close time. The establishment of an international close time for whaling has been tentatively suggested by the Union of South Africa, by New Zealand, New- foundland, and the German Government. A close time of five months exists in Scotland and Ireland under Acts of Parliament, and there may be other places where a close time has been established by municipal law. It seems clear, however, that the same period of the year could not be appropriate for a close time all over the world. In some places, e.g., West Africa, the whales are only present during migrations, which occur at particular seasons, in others, e.g., South Georgia, they are present all the year round. As regards the season when the calves are born, whales with calves are found near South Georgia throughout the year, but are most plentiful in
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