Link to text of agreement
Status of agreement

The International Agreement for the Regulation of Whaling was adopted in 1937, to replace the Convention for the Regulation of Whaling adopted in 1931, which had not been successful in managing the exploitation of whales, contained inadequate provisions and was not accepted by some major whaling nations. An international conference therefore took place in 1937, leading to the conclusion of the International Agreement by nine countries: Argentina, Australia, Germany, the Irish Free State, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. The new Convention was more detailed than its predecessor and, inter alia, established a complete prohibition on the taking of gray and right whales and of calves, or suckling whales or female whales which are accompanied by calves or suckling whales; set minimum size limits for blue, fin, humpback and sperm whales; and placed limitations on hunting areas and the length of the whaling season for each species that could be harvested. In practice, however, the Agreement was barely more successful than the 1931 Convention and whaling continued largely unabated, notwithstanding the adoption of an additional Protocol in 1938 containing additional regulations, including an expansion of the areas closed to exploitation of baleen and humpback whales.

Pelagic whaling virtually ceased during the Second World War but interest once again resumed towards the end of the War. This led to the adoption of a series of Protocols between 1944 and 1947, in which Canada, Denmark, France, Mexico, the Netherlands and, later, the Soviet Union also participated, designed to build on the pre-War agreement. The most important of these were the 1944 Protocol of amendment, which introduced maximum catch limits for Antarctic whaling, and the Protocol amending the Agreement and the 1938 Protocol, adopted in November 1945, which introduced the concept of "blue whale units" and the equivalences on which the concept was based and set catch limits for a number of whales species (in terms of blue whale units). The extension of the 1937 agreement was never intended to be a permanent arrangement, however, as negotiations for a new instrument took place in 1946 and the 1937 agreement was effectively replaced by the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling when that Convention entered into force in 1948.

 - Additional references

Original agreement: 190 LNTS 79, 1946 ATS 10, 1938 UKTS 37
1938 Protocol: 196 LNTS 131, 1946 ATS 11, 1939 UKTS 18
1944 Protocol: 1946 UKTS 61
1945 Protocol: 11 UNTS 43, 1947 ATS 9, 1946 UKTS 70, TIAS 1597
1946 Protocol: 161 UNTS 361, 1948 UKTS 14, TIAS 1708
1947 Protocol: 1947 ATS 9, 1947 UKTS 28, TIAS 1634

Internet Guide to International Fisheries Law
Created by Christopher Hedley
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