Whaling Industry (Regulation) Act 1934

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.