PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 885
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
22 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
76
MINISTRY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
MEMORANDUM.
The Government of the Republic, while retaining its right to grant certain licences to its nationals for whale fishing in Angola and Mozambique, whenever the study mentioned in Article II. of the law of the 16th of July last shows that it may make use of that right, would, however, be prepared to participate in an Inter- national Conference, as suggested in the memorandum of the 7th ultimo from the British Legation, for the purpose of adopting, against the danger of the total extermination of whales, such measures as might be considered at the Conference to be necessary, in addition to those already set forth in the above-mentioned law.
Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the 12th of September, 1913.
29140
No. 37.
MEMORANDUM ON THE WHALE FISHING INDUSTRY IN IRELAND. Copies of the Whale Fisheries (Ireland) Act, 1908;* the Whale Fisheries By-laws of 2nd March, 1910, and of the Evidence given at inquiries relating to Whale Fishing in Ireland, are sent herewith.
The Committee will be aware that when the gun-harpoon whaling industry was first established in Scotland an agitation against it was raised in the alleged interests of the herring fishery. The matter was referred to the Departmental Committee on Whaling and Whale-Curing in the North of Scotland, who in due course furnished their Report [Cd. 2138] 1905, which may be regarded as the basis of the Whale Fisheries (Scotland) Act, 1907, 7, Edw. VII, Cap. 41.
When, in 1907, the Arranmore Whaling Company (since settled at Inishkea, off the coast of County Mayo) proposed to establish a whaling station at Arranmore, off the Donegal coast, the Scottish agitation was transferred to Ireland, and in order to understand the considerations which gave rise to subsequent Irish legislation, it is necessary to examine very briefly the objections to whaling put forward at the various inquiries held on the subject.
Reportst of the evidence given at these inquiries are submitted herewith, and it will be seen that the dangers apprehended by witnesses were in effect confined to :-
(1) Disturbance of fishing operations;
(2) Fouling of fishing grounds;
(3) Interference with the amenities of private property; (4) Insanitary conditions at and near whaling stations.
Since the objections were to whaling in toto, danger to the industry by over- fishing did not enter into the purview of objectors, though some witnesses, possibly as a tour de force, professed to believe that whales should be preserved because they assist herring fishing by herding herring into the bays and preventing their exit therefrom-a view of the bionomic relation of herring and whale which, in Irish waters at least, has no manner of foundation in fact.
It was at first proposed to deal with these objections, as far as seemed necessary, by way of by-law. Certain by-laws were accordingly prepared; but in view of the difficulty of dealing in time by by-law with new stations, it was decided to apply to Parliament for statutory regulations of general applicability, and, in framing the provisions of the Whale Fisheries (Ireland) Act of 1908, care was taken to reserve to the Department power to prevent not only insanitation and undue inter- ference with other fisheries, but also the over-exploitation of the whaling industry itself by multiplication of stations and steamers.
The Irish Act, as will be seen, mainly follows the lines of the Scottish Act. Omission of the provisions relating to "herring hogs" (believed to mean Balanoptera rostrata) and whales with calf at breast may appear of importance to the Committee: The Department are most averse to legislation which requires for its interpretation knowledge of obscure points of natural history, such as the difference between the adult of a small species and the young of a large species of finner, while in regard to whales with calf the actual supervision of hunting operations carried on, as is the case in Irish waters, 30 to 100 miles from the coast, is impracticable, and even
↑ Not reprinted.
Not printed.
See Appendix.
77
expert evidence deducible from the condition of the mamme in whales brought to the station might not be sufficiently conclusive. Moreover, the whaling companies at present established in Ireland do not appear to consider "herring hogs" "worth powder and shot, and cow whales with young at breast are very poor in blubber yield.
Two whaling stations are licensed in Ireland; one, owned by the Arranmore Whaling Company, at South Inishkea, off the Mullet, in County Mayo, has been in operation since the spring of 1908. The other, owned by the Blacksod Whaling Company, at Ardelly Point, in Blacksod Bay, commenced work in the spring of 1910.
The take of whales is shown in statement marked A (1-2) attached. The Department were approached unofficially, some years ago, with regard to the licensing of other stations, but the situations proposed by the promoters were not such as to justify the Department in encouraging formal application, and unless the prospects of whaling from the Irish coast materially improve, it seems unlikely that any further development of the industry will take place.
The only by-laws which the Department have thought it necessary to make are those of 2nd March, 1910, which aim chiefly at the prevention of waste of material, and, as to By-law No. 5, at the prevention of fouling of foreshore and adjacent waters in a somewhat land-locked bay. Such fouling could hardly occur to a serious extent on the open shores of Inishkea.
With regard to the enforcement of law and by-laws, it may be remarked that the whaling stations were at first regarded with great local suspicion, and had any infraction of the law, observable on shore, taken place, it would no doubt have been brought to the notice of the Department. Such complaints, however, as have reached the Department have proved on investigation to be either most trivial or devoid of any foundation.
The Inishkea station was, no doubt, in its first year of working (ie., prior to the passing of the by-laws referred to above) insufficiently equipped for the consumption of the material its steamers could collect, and a certain amount of waste and fouling ensued, but nothing to the prejudice of other fisheries or the amenities, as they understand them, of the Inishkea islanders. In later years, also, labour troubles have occasioned some delay in consumption. Conditions for prompt consumption and cleanliness have from the first been practically perfect at the Ardelly station. The stations are inspected once or more often during each whaling season by an Inspector or an Assistant Inspector of Fisheries, and any suggestion which they see fit to make always meets with prompt compliance by the managers. Inspections are made without notice, and the stations are at all times open to the observation of the Royal Irish Constabulary and (at Ardelly) of His Majesty's Coastguard, from whom no adverse reports have been received. An offence against By-law No. 4 could hardly fail to come to the knowledge of the commander of the Department's fisheries-protection cruiser, which is often in the neighbourhood during the whaling season. It must, however, be said that the success which has attended the Irish industry has not been such as to afford temptation of infraction of regulations designed against over-fishing.
1911.
In view of the allegations of fouling of foreshore and destruction of littoral fisheries so freely levelled against the whaling industry some years ago, the Depart- ment decided to carry out a half-yearly biological survey of the shores and waters adjacent to the Ardelly station. The survey was commenced in September, 1909, prior to the commencement of whaling operations, and continued until September, The results are in preparation for publication in extenso, but may be summarised in the statement that the only effect which could be observed took the form of an alteration in the flora of the foreshore in the immediate neighbourhood of the flensing plane. Such alteration appears to be in no way prejudicial to any fishing industry, directly or indirectly. At Inishkea-too inaccessible to permit of regular survey, and too exposed to call for the same sanitary precautions as appeared necessary at Ardelly-the flora of the adjacent foreshore has been altered to a considerably greater degree, but so far from prejudicing the only local fishing industry, viz., lobster fishing, such refuse as escaped from the flensing appears to have attracted lobsters to the bight in which the whaling steamers and whales awaiting flensing are moored.
Department of Agriculture and
Technical Instruction for Ireland.
13 October, 1913.
Page 300Page 301
78
Annexure A (1).
TABLE SHOWING TAKE OF WHALES OF DIFFERENT SPECIES AT THE INISHKEA WHALING
this score.
79
The stations were kept in a filthy condition, waste products were allowed to run into the sea, which destroyed vegetation and shellfish along the shore in the neighbourhood of the stations, while most offensive effluvia were generated. The managers showed themselves, however, earnestly desirous of meeting the require- ments of the Act, with the result that the insanitary conditions complained of have all been remedied. This has been accomplished by installing sufficient additional machinery and the employment of sufficient hands to enable the whales brought in to be dealt with immediately on arrival; by the substitution of concrete for wooden floors; and by utilising the waste matter which was formerly so injurious to shellfish. So successful has the last-named measure proved that in two instances beds of shellfish which had apparently been completely destroyed are again in a flourishing condition. Fishery Board for Scotland,
STATION.
Year.
Blue WhalesFinner Whales Sei Whales (Balienoptera (Balanoptera (Balanoptera Sibbaldi). musculus), t borealis).
Humpbacks (Megaptera bobija).
Right Whales Sperm Whales i Baliona (Physeter biscuyenara). macrocephalus).
Total.
1903
18
25
27
1
1909
27
54
9
5
5
76
!
5
100
1910
1911 1912
32
12
21
2
65
7
68
26
37057
Edinburgh, 14th October, 1913.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
mmimmin C.O. 885
22 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED. PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
Annexure A (2).
TABLE SHOWING TAKE OF WHALES OF DIFFERENT SPECIES AT THE ARDELLY POINT
1910
1911
1912
No. 39.
FALKLAND ISLANDS.
THE ACTING GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 27 October, 1913.)
WHALING STATION.
Year.
Blue Whales Finner Whale Sei Whalen (Balernoptera: (Balanoptera | (Balanoptera
Sibbaldi).
borealis). muscuiuaj.
Humpbacks Right Whales Sperm Whales
Balana Physeter (Megaptera
Total.
buopa).
bizca yensis). macrocephalus).
(Confidential.)
SIR,
29140
20
18
OP
224
26
+
| | 12
42 2
55
63
31
No. 38. MEMORANDUM ON THE WORKING OF THE WHALE FISHERIES (SCOTLAND) ACT, 1907.
The Whale Fisheries (Scotland) Act came into operation on the 1st January, 1908. Briefly, it prohibited the exercise of the whaling industry without a licence from the Fishery Board, prescribed the conditions under which the industry might be carried on and the penalties which might be imposed for infringements of the regulations, and empowered the Fishery Board to collect statistics regarding the industry. The regulations in force are embodied in the Act, while the limited close time which the Board were empowered to impose by Section 3 (6) was fixed at five weeks from the 1st June (vide By-law appended*), and has remained unaltered since. Prior to the passing of the Act the whaling industry was alleged to be objection- able on two main grounds: (1) that it was detrimental to the herring fishing; and (2) that it was a source of nuisance and danger to public health. A committee which was appointed to enquire into the truth of these allegations found that (1) could not be substantiated, but that (2) was well founded. At the same time the committee found that although no case had been made out for the suppression of whaling on the score of injury to the herring fishing, it was desirable to regulate and limit it in the interests of both industries, and the Act was accordingly framed to mitigate as far as possible the offensive features of the industry, and to secure for herring fishermen the minimum amount of interference with their operations.
No difficulty is now experienced in enforcing the provisions of the Act. Since the Act came into operation there has been only one prosecution of a whaler for killing a whale within the protected area, and as only one witness appeared for the prosecution the verdict was "not proven." The area which is closed to whaling is wide, and the Board can spare only one cruiser to patrol it, but from the almost entire absence of complaints it may safely be inferred that the provisions of the Act and relative by-law are being observed by the whalers.
Considered from the point of view of sanitation, it is undoubtedly the case that prior to the passing of the Act the industry was open to very serious objection on
• See Appendix.
Government House, Stanley, 27th September, 1913.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge your Confidential despatch of the 20th August, 1913,* with reference to the Committee formed for the purpose of consider- ing measures to be laid before an international conference with a view to the pro- tection of whales and the regulation of the whaling industry.
2. Messrs. Binnie and Newing, the only two officers here who have had experi- ence with regard to the whaling industry, inform me that very little difficulty has been experienced in enforcing the whaling regulations, and they do not anticipate any, providing that officials have opportunities of visiting the whaling grounds.
On the arrival of the whaling fleet at the end of next month, I will interview the managers of the various companies with the object of greater facilities being given to officials accompanying the expeditions.
Attached to 29140
I have, &c.,
JNO, QUAYLE DICKSON,
Administrator.
No. 40.
BOARD OF TRADE to INTERDEPARTMENTAL WHALING COMMITTEE. (Received 1 November, 1913.)
SIR,
Board of Trade (Marine Department),
7, Whitehall Gardens, London, S.W., 31st October, 1913. WITH reference to your letter of August 30th,† suggesting that the Dundee Chamber of Commerce should be invited to furnish information with regard to the need for the protection of whales, I am directed by the Board of Trade to transmit, herewith, copy of correspondence with the Chamber on the subject.
I am to add that the Board are obtaining further information on the Dundee whaling industry through certain of their officers, which they will forward to you in due course.
I am,
&c., GEO. J. STANLEY.
The Secretary,
Interdepartmental Committee on the Protection of Whales,
Colonial Office, S.W.
* 29140: not printed,
↑ Not printed.
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