Whaling Industry (Regulation) Act 1934
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1934 c. 49 |
Whaling Industry (Regulation) Act, 1934.
(24 & 25 Geo. 5.) CHAPTER 49.
An Act to enable effect to be given to a Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, signed at Geneva on behalf of His Majesty on the twenty-fourth day of September, nineteen hundred and thirty-one; to prohibit the taking or treating of whales within the coastal waters of the United Kingdom; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
[31st July 1934]
Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 Description of whales to which the Act applies.
1. The provisions of this Act apply only in relation to whales known as whalebone whales or baleen whales:
Provided that if, for the purpose of enabling effect to be given to any convention relating to other whales which is signed on behalf of His Majesty after the commencement of this Act, it appears to His Majesty to be necessary so to do, His Majesty may by Order in Council direct that, subject to such exceptions, adaptations and modifications (if any) as may be specified in the Order, the provisions of this Act shall apply in relation to those other whales or to such descriptions thereof as may be so specified.
2 Prohibition of catching of treating whales within United Kingdom waters.
2. It shall be unlawful for any ship to be used within the coastal waters of the United Kingdom for taking or treating whales, and if any ship is so used, the master shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, or to both such imprisonment and such fine.
3 Protection for certain classes of whales.
(1) If any person belonging to a British ship to which this Act applies, while outside the coastal waters of the United Kingdom, kills or takes, or attempts to kill or to take,—
(a ) a right whale, or
(b ) an immature whale, or
(c ) a female whale which is accompanied by a calf,
that person and the master and (subject to the following provisions of this Act) the owner and the charterer (if any) of the ship shall each be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or to a fine not exceeding two hundred pounds and an additional fine not exceeding the value of the products (if any) obtained or obtainable from the whale in question, or to both such imprisonment and such fines.
(2) For the purposes of this section a whale of any description shall be deemed to be immature if it is of less than such length as may be prescribed in relation to whales of that description:
Provided that the length prescribed for the purposes of this section in relation to blue whales shall not be less than sixty feet, and the length so prescribed in relation to fin whales shall not be less than fifty feet.
(3) In this section—
(a ) the expression ‘calf’ includes a suckling whale;
(b ) the expression ‘right whale’ means a whale known by any of the names set out in Part I of the Schedule to this Act;
(c ) the expression ‘blue whales’ means whales known by any of the names set out in Part II of the Schedule to this Act;
(d ) the expression ‘fin whales’ means whales known by any of the names set out in Part III of the Schedule to this Act.
4 Whaling ships and whale-oil factories to be licensed.
(1) Without prejudice to the provisions of the last foregoing section, it shall be unlawful for any British ship to which this Act applies to be used outside the coastal waters of the United Kingdom for taking or treating whales, or for any factory situate in Great Britain to be used for treating whales, unless the owner or the charterer of the ship, or the occupier of the factory, is the holder of a licence in force under this Act authorising the ship or the factory, as the case may be, to be so used.
(2) If any ship or factory is used for taking or treating whales in contravention of this section, the master and (subject to the following provisions of this Act) the owner and the charterer (if any) of the ship, or the manager and (subject as aforesaid) the occupier of the factory, as the case may be, shall each be liable, in respect of each whale taken or treated in contravention of this section, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or to a fine not exceeding two hundred pounds and an additional fine not exceeding the value of the products (if any) obtained or obtainable from the whale, or to both such imprisonment and such fines.
5 Grant of licences.
(1) On application made in the prescribed manner by the owner or charterer of any British ship to which this Act applies, or by the occupier of any factory situate in Great Britain, and on payment of such fee as may be prescribed, the licensing authority shall, subject to the following provisions of this Act, grant to the applicant a licence in the prescribed form authorising that ship or factory to be used for taking whales or for treating whales, as the case may require.
(2) The fee prescribed in respect of the grant of a licence under this section shall not exceed—
(a ) two hundred pounds in the case of a licence authorising the use of a ship or factory for treating whales; or
(b ) one hundred pounds in the case of a licence authorising the use of a ship for taking whales.
(3) A licence granted under this section shall, unless previously cancelled under this Act, continue in force for one year from the day specified in the licence as the day on which it takes effect.
(4) The licensing authority may, if they think fit, refuse to grant a licence under this section to any person who has been convicted of an offence under this Act.
6 Conditions attached to licences.
(1) There shall be attached to every licence under this Act authorising the use of a ship for taking whales a condition that the remuneration of the gunners and crew of the ship must, so far as it is calculated by reference to the results of their work, be calculated by reference to the size, species, oil-yield and value of the whales taken, and in such manner as to exclude remuneration in respect of any whale which is of less than such length as may be prescribed for the purposes of this section, or the taking of which is prohibited by this Act.
(2) There shall be attached to every licence under this Act authorising the use of a ship or factory for treating whales, the following conditions, that is to say:—
(a ) that there must be recorded in the prescribed manner and by the prescribed person—
(i) with respect to each whale treated in the ship or factory, the date and place of taking, the species and the sex of the whale, and such measurements and other biological information (including information as to the contents of its internal organs) as may be prescribed; and
(b ) that the ship or factory must be equipped with plant of a type approved by the licensing authority for the extraction of oil from the blubber, flesh and bones of whales, and that steps must be taken to ensure that the plant is kept in good order and operated efficiently; and
(c ) that, except in the case of a whale or part of a whale intended to be used for human food the oil must be extracted, by boiling or otherwise, from all whale blubber, from the heads and tongues of whales and from their tails as far forward as the outer opening of the lower intestine; and
(d ) in the case of a factory, that adequate arrangements must be made for utilising residual products.
(3) There shall be attached to every licence under this Act the condition that the records required by the licence to be kept must be transmitted, at such times and in such manner as may be prescribed, to the licensing authority.
(4) There may be attached to any licence under this Act such conditions (if any), in addition to the conditions required by the foregoing provisions of this section, as appear to the licensing authority to be necessary or expedient for the purpose of preventing, so far as practicable,—
(a ) any wastage of whales or whale products; or
(b ) the taking of whales during certain seasons;
and any conditions attached to such a licence as aforesaid for the purpose of preventing the taking of whales during certain seasons, may specify different seasons in relation to different parts of the world or different descriptions of whales.
(5) Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this section, no condition involving the substitution of one type of plant for another shall be attached to a licence under this section unless at least twelve months' notice of the intention to impose the condition has been given by the licensing authority in such manner as that authority think best for informing persons concerned.
(6) The licensing authority may refuse to grant a licence under this Act in respect of a ship or factory until the authority are satisfied, from an inspection of the ship or factory or by such other evidence as they may...
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