Whaling Act 1935 (Cth)

 

WHALING.

 

No. 62 of 1935.

An Act relating to Whaling.

[Assented to 9th December, 1935.]

Preamble.

WHEREAS it is desirable and necessary to make provision to ensure the application of the provisions of the Convention for the Regulation of Whaling signed at Geneva on the twenty-fourth day of September, One thousand nine hundred and thirty-one and the punishment of infractions of the said provisions:

BE it therefore enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows:—

Short title.

1. This Act may be cited as the Whaling Act 1935.

Commencement.

2. This Act shall commence on a date to be fixed by Proclamation.

Definitions.

3. In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears—

“Factory” does not include a ship;

“Licence” means a licence granted under this Act;

“Master” means any person having command or charge of a ship;

“Officer” means an officer performing duties under this Act;

“Owner” includes the manager or secretary of any company or body corporate or any person to whom the whole or a part of a ship belongs;

“Port or place” includes any natural harbour, haven, channel or anchorage in or at which ships can obtain shelter or ship and unship goods;

“Right whale” includes southern right whale, Pacific right whale and southern pigmy right whale;

“Treating whales” includes the operation of cutting up, and the extraction of oil, whalebone or other products from, the carcases of whales, and “treat” has a meaning corresponding to “treating whales”;

“Whale” means a baleen or whalebone whale.

Application of Act.

4.—(1.) This Act shall extend to Australian waters beyond territorial limits, to the Territories of the Commonwealth, to ships registered in Australia, whether or not such ships are in Australian waters or the waters of a Territory of the Commonwealth, and to all ships over which the Commonwealth has jurisdiction.

(2.) The Governor-General may, by proclamation, declare that this Act shall apply in Australian territorial waters or any portion of such waters.

Appointment of officers.

5. Every officer shall, for the purposes of the enforcement of the provisions of this Act, have the same powers and authorities as a constable has under the Crimes Act 1914–1932.

Taking or killing of certain kinds of whales prohibited.

6.—(1.) A person shall not take or kill—

(a) any right whale;

(b) any calf or suckling whale or immature whale; or

(c) any female whale accompanied by a calf or suckling whale.

(2.) Any person who has in his possession any calf or whale taken or killed in contravention of this section, or any part or product of any such calf or whale, shall be guilty of an offence.

(3.) For the purposes of this section, a whale of any description shall be deemed to be immature if it is of less length than that 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.

Penalty: Two hundred pounds or imprisonment for three months or both, and, in addition, an amount equal to the value of the products (if any) obtained or obtainable from the whale.

Taking, killing or treating whales without a licence.

7.—(1.) It shall be unlawful for a ship to be used for taking, killing or treating whales or for a factory to be used for treating whales unless the owner or charterer of the ship, or the occupier

of the factory, is the holder of a licence in force under this Act authorizing the ship or the factory, as the case may be, to be so used.

Penalty (on owner, charterer, master, or occupier): In respect of each whale taken, killed or treated in contravention of this section, Two hundred pounds.

(2.) A ship designed and equipped for taking, killing or treating whales shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be deemed to be used for taking, killing or treating whales.

Unlicensed ship entering Australia.

8.A ship designed and equipped for taking, killing or treating whales shall not be brought into any port or place in Australia or any Territory of the Commonwealth unless the owner or charterer of the ship is the holder of a licence in force under this Act authorizing the ship to be used for taking, killing or treating whales or the ship is duly authorized by the Government of the country whose flag she flies to engage in taking, killing or treating whales.

Penalty (on owner, charterer or master): One thousand pounds.

Possession of whale, &c., Illegally killed.

9. The owner, charterer or master of any ship, or the manager or occupier of any factory or occupier of any premises on shore, in which is found any whale or any part or product of a whale the taking, killing or treating of which is an offence against this Act, shall be guilty of an offence.

Penalty: One thousand pounds.

Licences to engage in taking or killing whales or in treating whales.

10.—(1.) Subject to this Act, the Minister, or other prescribed authority, may, in his absolute discretion, grant to the owner or charterer of any ship or the occupier of any factory a licence to engage in taking or killing whales or in treating whales, as the case may be:

Provided that no such licence shall be granted to the owner or charterer of any ship not registered in Australia unless the ship is duly authorized by the Government of the country whose flag she flies to engage in taking, killing or treating whales.

(2.) A licence granted to the owner or charterer of a ship shall be granted in respect of the ship named therein and of whale catchers or chasers (if any) attached to that ship to the number specified in the licence, and a licence granted to the occupier of a factory shall be granted in respect of the premises specified therein.

(3.) A licence granted under this section shall be for such period not exceeding five years as is fixed by the Minister or other prescribed authority and specified in the licence.

(4.) The fee payable in respect of the grant of a licence under this section shall be, for each year or part of a year in respect of which the licence is granted—

(a) in the case of a licence to engage in taking or killing whales—One hundred pounds for the ship and fifty pounds for each whale catcher or chaser attached thereto; and

(b) in the case of a licence to engage in treating whales—Two hundred pounds.

(5.) In addition to the fees payable in pursuance of the last preceding sub-section, there shall be payable in respect of any such licence such royalties or other payments as the Minister determines.

Conditions of licences.

11.—(1.) A licence to engage in taking or killing whales or in treating whales shall be granted upon and subject to the following conditions:—

(a) That the fullest possible use is made of the carcases of whales taken or treated, and, in particular, that there is extracted, by boiling or otherwise, the oil from all blubber and from the head and tongue and from the tail as far forward as the outer opening of the lower intestine:

Provided that this condition shall not apply to such parts of a whale as are intended to be used for human food;

(b) That, in the case of a licence to engage in treating whales, the ship or factory used for the purpose is equipped with adequate apparatus for the extraction of oil from the blubber, flesh and bones;

(c) That, in the case of whales brought on shore, adequate arrangements are made for utilizing the residues after the oil has been extracted;

(d) That there is kept on board the ship or in the factory a record of every whale taken or treated, with the following particulars:—

(i) Date of taking;

(ii) Place of taking;

(iii) Species;

(iv) Sex;

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

(vi) When foetus is present, length and sex, if ascertainable; and

(vii) When practicable, information as to the stomach contents.

For the purposes of this paragraph, the length of each whale shall be the length taken from the tip of the snout to the notch between the flukes of the tail;

(e) That in the case of a ship the owner or master of the ship shall in each year furnish to the Minister a return in the prescribed form containing the following particulars:—

(i) The name and tonnage of the ship;

(ii) The name and tonnage of each whale catcher or chaser attached to the ship;

(iii) A list of the land stations which were in operation in connexion with the ship during the period in which the ship was engaged in taking, killing or treating whales;

(iv) The particulars referred to in the last preceding paragraph of this section; and

(v) The amounts of oil of each grade and the quantities of meal, guano and other products derived from whales taken by the ship; and

(f) Such other conditions (whether in addition to or in substitution for the foregoing conditions) as are prescribed or as the Minister sees fit to impose.

(2.) Any breach of a condition of a licence shall be an offence against this Act.

(3.) Where the Minister is satisfied that there has been any contravention of or failure to comply with any condition upon which a licence was granted, the Minister may cancel the licence.

(4.) The Minister may require any applicant for a licence or any licensee to give security to his satisfaction for compliance with the conditions of the licence and of the requirements of this Act.

(5.) Where any applicant for a licence, or a licensee, fails or refuses to give security in accordance with the last preceding sub-section, the Minister may, in the case of an applicant, refuse to giant a licence, and, in the case of a licensee, cancel the licence.

Permits to take, kill and treat whales for scientific purposes.

12. Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, the Minister may grant to any person a special permit authorizing that person to take, kill and treat whales for purposes of scientific research or for other exceptional purposes, subject to such restrictions as to number, and subject to such other conditions, as the Minister thinks fit, and the taking, killing or treating of whales in accordance with a permit in force under this section shall be exempt from the operation of the foregoing provisions of this Act.

Owners of ships and occupiers of factories to furnish returns.

13. The owner or master of any ship and the occupier of any factory engaged in treating whales shall in each year furnish a return of the number of each species of whale treated in the ship or at the factory and of the amounts of oil of each grade and the quantities of meal, guano and other products derived from them.

Penalty: One hundred pounds.

Remuneration of crew not to depend on results.

14. Where the owner or master of a ship authorized under this Act to be used for taking, killing or treating whales engages gunners and other members of the crew of the ship on terms such that their remuneration is made dependent to any extent on results he shall engage them on terms that—

(a) their remuneration shall depend, to that extent, upon such factors as the size, species, value and yield of oil of the whales taken;

(b) their remuneration shall not depend only upon the numbers of whales taken; and

(c) remuneration in respect of any whale which is of less length than that prescribed for the purposes of this section or the taking of which is prohibited by this Act shall be excluded.

Penalty: One hundred pounds in respect of each such gunner or member of the crew.

Forfeited whales and whale products.

15.—(1.) Where—

(a) any whale taken or killed; or

(b) any part or product of any whale taken or killed,

in contravention of this Act or of any condition of a licence, is brought into any port or place in Australia or any Territory of the Commonwealth, that whale, part or product, as the case may be, shall be forfeited to the King.

(2.) Any whale or any part or product of any whale forfeited under this Act shall be disposed of as the Minister directs.

Powers of officers to board and search ships.

16.—(1.) For the purposes of this Act, an officer may—

(a) board any ship or enter any factory which he has reason to believe is used for taking or treating whales, and inspect the ship or factory and its plant and equipment;

(b) in the case of any such ship, require the master and crew or any of them, and, in the case of any such factory, require the occupier or manager thereof and the employees therein or any of them, to produce all such licences, records and other documents as the officer considers it necessary to inspect, and to answer all such inquiries as he considers it necessary to make; and

(c) take copies of, or extracts from, any documents produced to him.

(2.) Any person who refuses to produce to an officer any document which he is required under this section to produce, or refuses to answer, or answers falsely, any inquiry made of him by an officer, or obstructs or refuses facilities to an officer in the discharge of his duties under this section, shall be guilty of an offence.

Penalty: One hundred pounds.

Officer may board and remain on board ship.

17.—(1.) An officer may go on board any ship which is used for treating whales and shall be entitled to remain on board the ship, to be provided with subsistence and accommodation therein and to be present at all operations in connexion with the treating of whales on board the ship.

(2.) There shall be paid to the owner or master of the ship, in respect of each day during which an officer remains on board the ship, such sum as is prescribed for the provision of subsistence and accommodation of an officer boarding the ship and remaining on board the ship in pursuance of this section.

Offences where no penalty provided.

18. Any person who commits an offence against this Act for which no other penalty is provided shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding One hundred pounds.

Venue.

19. Proceedings for any offence against this Act may be brought either in the State, part of the Commonwealth or Territory of the Commonwealth where the offence was committed, or in the State, part of the Commonwealth or Territory of the Commonwealth in which the offender is found.

Regulations.

20.