________________________________________

THE MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION COMPENDIUM

MULTILATERAL / MARINE MAMMALS
Volume(s) 1-3; pages 1394-1399


_________________________________________________

======================================

Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, Geneva, 1931


________________________________


Done at Geneva 24 September 1931


Entered into force 16 January 1935


Depositary: League of Nations


Primary source citation: 3 Bevans 26, TS 880


_________________________________________

CONVENTION FOR THE REGULATION OF WHALING

His Majesty the King of the Albanians; the President of the German Reich; the President of the United States of America; His Majesty the King of the Belgians; His Majesty the King of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India; the President of the Republic of Colombia; His Majesty the King of Denmark and Iceland; the President of the Government of the Spanish Republic; the President of the Republic of Finland; the President of the French Republic; the President of the Hellenic Republic; His Majesty the King of Italy; the President of the United States of Mexico; His Majesty the King of Norway; Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands; the President of the Polish Republic; His Majesty the King of Roumania; the Swiss Federal Council; the President of the Czechoslovak Republic; the President of the Turkish Republic; His Majesty the King of Yugoslavia have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries the following:

His Majesty the King of the Albanians: M. Lec Kurti, Resident Minister, Permanent Delegate accredited to the League of Nations.

The President of the German Reich: M. Hans Hermann Vlckers, Consul-General at Geneva.

The President of the United States of America: Mr. Hugh R. Wilson, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Swiss Federal Council.

His Majesty the King of the Belgians: M. P. Hymans, Minister for Foreign Affairs.

His Majesty the King of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India:

For Great Britain and Northern Ireland and all parts of the British Empire which are not separate Members of the League of Nations: The Right Honourable Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, K.C. For the Dominion of Canada: The Honourable Hugh Guthrie, P.C., K.C., M.P., Minister of Justice and Attorney-General.

For the Commonwealth of Australia: Mr. James R. Collins, C.M.G., C.B.E., Official Secretary and financial Adviser in the Office of the High Commissioner in London.

For the Dominion of New Zealand: Sir Thomas Mason Wilford, K.C.M.G., K.C., High Commissioner in London.

For the Union of South Africa: Mr. C. T. te Water, High Commissioner in London.

For India: Sir Brojendra L. Mitter, Kt., Law Member of the Viceroy's Executive Council.

The President of the Republic of Colombia: Dr. A. J. Restrepo, Permanent Delegate accredited to the League of Nations.

His Majesty the King of Denmark and Iceland: M. William Borberg, Permanent Delegate accredited to the League of Nations.

The President of the Government of the Spanish Republic: M. Alejandro Lerroux Garca, Minister of State.

The President of the Republic of Finland: M. Evald Gyllenbgel, Counsellor of Legation, Permanent Delegate a.i. accredited to the League of Nations.

The President of the French Republic: M. Louis Rollin, Deputy, Minister of Commerce and Industry.

The President of the Hellenic Republic: M. R. Raphal, Permanent Delegate accredited to the League of Nations.

His Majesty the King of Italy: M. Augusto Rosso, Minister Plenipotentiary, Substitute Delegate to the Council of the League of Nations.

The President of the United States of Mexico: M. Salvador Martinez de Alva, Head of the Permanent Office accredited to the League of Nations.

His Majesty the King of Norway: M. Birger Braadland, Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands: Jonkheer F. Beelaerts van Blokland, Minister for Foreign Affairs.

The President of the Polish Republic: M. Auguste Zaleski, Minister for Foreign Affairs.

His Majesty the King of Roumania: M. Constantin Antoniade, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary accredited to the League of Nations.

The Swiss Federal Council: M. Giuseppe Motta, President of the Swiss Confederation, Head of the Federal Political Department.

The President of the Czechoslovak Republic: M. Zdene\/k Fierlinger, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Swiss Federal Council, Permanent Delegate accredited to the League of Nations.

The President of the Turkish Republic: Cemal Hsn Bey, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Swiss Federal Council.

His Majesty the King of Yugoslavia: M. Voislav Marinkovitch, Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Who, having communicated their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed on the following provisions:

Article 1

The High Contracting Parties agree to take, within the limits of their respective jurisdictions, appropriate measures to ensure the application of the provisions of the present Convention and the punishment of infractions of the said provisions.

Article 2

The present Convention applies only to baleens or whalebone whales.

Article 3

The present Convention does not apply to aborigines dwelling on the coasts of the territories of the High Contracting Parties provided that:

(1) They only use canoes, pirogues or other exclusively native craft propelled by oars or sails;

(2) They do not carry firearms;

(3) They are not in the employment of persons other than aborigines;

(4) They are not under contract to deliver the products of their whaling to any third person.

Article 4

The taking or killing of right whales, which shall be deemed to include North-Cape whales, Greenland whales, southern right whales, Pacific right whales and southern pigmy right whales, is prohibited.

Article 5

The taking or killing of calves or suckling whales, immature whales, and female whales which are accompanied by calves (or suckling whales) is prohibited.

Article 6

The fullest possible use shall be made of the carcases of whales taken. In particular:

1. There shall be extracted by boiling or otherwise the oil from all blubber and from the head and the tongue and, in addition, from the tail as far forward as the outer opening of the lower intestine.

The provisions of this sub-paragraph shall apply only to such carcases or parts of carcases as are not intended to be used for human food.

2. Every factory, whether on shore or afloat, used for treating the carcases of whales shall be equipped with adequate apparatus for the extraction of oil from the blubber, flesh and bones.

3. In the case of whales brought on shore, adequate arrangements shall be made for utilising the residues after the oil has been extracted.

Article 7

Gunners and crews of whaling vessels shall be engaged on terms such that their remuneration shall depend to a considerable extent upon such factors as the size, species, value and yield of oil of whales taken, and not merely upon the number of whales taken, in so far as payment is made dependent on results.

Article 8

No vessel of any of the High Contracting Parties shall engage in taking or treating whales unless a license authorising such vessel to engage therein shall have been granted in respect of such vessel by the High Contracting Party, whose flag she flies, or unless her owner or charterer has notified the Government of the said High Contracting Party of his intention to employ her in whaling and has received a certificate of notification from the said Government.

Nothing in this article shall prejudice the right of any High Contracting Party to require that, in addition, a licence shall be required from his own authorities by every vessel desirous of using his territory or territorial waters for the purposes of taking, landing or treating whales, and such licence may be refused or may be made subject to such conditions as may be deemed by such High Contracting Party to be necessary or desirable, whatever the nationality of the vessel may be.

Article 9

The geographical limits within which the articles of this Convention are to be applied shall include all the waters of the world, including both the high seas and territorial and national waters.

Article 10

1. The High Contracting Parties shall obtain, with regard to the vessels flying their flags and engaged in the taking of whales, the most complete biological information practicable with regard to each whale taken, and in any case on the following points:

(a)

Date of taking;

(b)

Place of taking;

(c)

Species;

(d)

Sex;

(e)

Length; measured, when taken out of water; estimated, if cut up in water;

(f)

When foetus is present, length and sex if ascertainable;

(g)

When practicable, information as to stomach contents.

2. The length referred to in sub-paragraphs (e) and (f) of this article shall be the length of a straight line taken from the tip of the snout to the notch between the flukes of the tail.

Article 11

Each High Contracting Party shall obtain from all factories, on land or afloat, under his jurisdiction, returns of the number of whales of each species treated at each factory and of the amounts of oil of each grade and the quantities of meal, guano and other products derived from them.

Article 12

Each of the High Contracting Parties shall communicate statistical information regarding all whaling operations under their jurisdiction to the International Bureau for Whaling Statistics at Oslo. The information given shall comprise at least the particulars mentioned in Article 10 and: (1) the name and tonnage of each floating factory; (2) the number and aggregate tonnage of the whale catchers; (3) a list of the land stations which were in operation during the period concerned. Such information shall be given at convenient intervals not longer than one year.

Article 13

The obligation of a High Contracting Party to take measures to ensure the observance of the conditions of the present Convention in his territories and territorial waters, and by his vessels, shall not apply to those of his territories to which the Convention does not apply, and the territorial waters adjacent thereto, or to vessels registered in such territories.

Article 14

The present Convention, the French and English texts of which shall both be authoritative, shall remain open until the thirty-first of March 1932 for signature on behalf of any Member of the League of Nations or of any non-member State.

Article 15

The present Convention shall be ratified. The instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the League of Nations, who shall notify their receipt to all Members of the League of Nations and non-member States indicating the dates of their deposit.

Article 16

As from the first of April 1932, any Member of the League of Nations and any non-member State, on whose behalf the Convention has not been signed before that date, may accede thereto.

The instruments of accession shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the League of Nations, who shall notify all the Members of the League of Nations and non-member States of their deposit and the date thereof.

Article 17

The present Convention shall enter into force on the ninetieth day following the receipt by the Secretary-General of the League of Nations of ratifications or accessions on behalf of not less than eight Members of the League or non-member States, including the Kingdom of Norway and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

As regards any Member of the League or non-member State on whose behalf an instrument of ratification or accession is subsequently deposited, the Convention shall enter into force on the ninetieth day after the date of the deposit of such instrument.

Article 18

If after the coming into force of the present Convention the Council of the League of Nations, at the request of any two Members of the League or non-member States with regard to which the Convention is then in force, shall convene a Conference for the revision of the Convention, the High Contracting Parties agree to be represented at any Conference so convened.

Article 19

1. The present Convention may be denounced after the expiration of three years from the date of its coming into force.

2. Denunciation shall be effected by a written notification addressed to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations, who shall inform all the Members of the League and the non-member States of each notification received and of the date of its receipt.

3. Each denunciation shall take effect six months after the receipt of its notification.

Article 20

1. Any High Contracting Party may, at the time of signature, ratification or accession, declare that, in accepting the present Convention, he does not assume any obligations in respect of all or any of his colonies, protectorates, overseas territories or territories under suzerainty or mandate; and the present Convention shall not apply to any territory named in such declaration.

2. Any High Contracting Party may give notice to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations at any time subsequently that he desires that the Convention shall apply to all or any of his territories which have been made the subject of a declaration under the preceding paragraph, and the Convention shall apply to all the territories named in such notice ninety days after its receipt by the Secretary-General of the League of Nations.

3. Any High Contracting Party may, at any time after the expiration of the period of three years mentioned in Article 19, declare that he desires that the present Convention shall cease to apply to all or any of his colonies, protectorates, overseas territories or territories under suzerainty or mandate and the Convention shall cease to apply to the territories named in such declaration six months after its receipt by the Secretary-General of the League of Nations.

4. The Secretary-General of the League of Nations shall communicate to all the Members of the League of Nations and the non-member States all declarations and notices received in virtue of this article and the dates of their receipt.

Article 21

The present Convention shall be registered by the Secretary-General of the League of Nations as soon as it has entered into force.

In faith whereof the above-mentioned Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Convention.


________________________________

Done at Geneva, on the twenty-fourth day of September one thousand nine hundred and thirty-one, in a single copy which shall be kept in the archives of the Secretariat of the League of Nations and of which certified true copies shall be delivered to all the Members of the League of Nations and to the non-member States.