Management of International Whaling and North Pacific Fur Seals: Implications for Fisheries Management

• Published in: Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada
• Main Author: Chapman, D. G.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1973
• Subjects: General Medicine; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Pacific; Antarc*; baleen whales; Fin whale; Sperm whale
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f73-377; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/f73-377

After many early vicissitudes, since 1911, the North Pacific fur seal stocks have been managed in the light of the best current information. During this time management problems have gradually changed from those of restoring depleted herds to those of finding the best exploitation strategy for herds at or near their maximum productivity (particularly in the case of the Pribilof and Robben herds). This has been achieved by agreement among the four nations who formerly captured fur seals either on land or at sea. The agreement includes a quota distribution of the kill.Many stocks of the larger baleen whales have been decimated in various parts of the world, some during the last century but others since 1930 — particularly those of the antarctic. Although biological information was adequate to recognize this overexploitation and even to follow it quantitatively, the International Whaling Commission was powerless to halt the decline because its terms required unanimity of decisions and precluded assigning national quotas. Also, quotas were set for a combined take rather than by species. In 1972 these weaknesses were resolved, but not before blue and humpback whales were commercially extinct in the antarctic and fin whale stocks were far below the level of maximum yield. A recent forward-looking step by the Commission has been that of setting a conservative annual quota for the previously unused minke whales of the antarctic, this to be revised in the light of its reaction to exploitation.Sperm whales have been only a secondary target for whalers during most of this century, while the polygamous habit and greater size of the male sperm whale have made their conservation easier than for the baleen species. However, the level of maximum sustained yield is now being approached and the strategy for attaining it is currently a lively topic of controversy and research.Different parts of this history of seal and whale management can be applied in fishery management, either as guides for action or as horrible examples of the ...