Extinction Of Whales

Enormous Over-Production of Whale Oil Must Soon End

ABOUT 8 differ ent species of whale have been successively slaughtered en masse for commer cial purposes, and in each case a few solitary survivors roam the seas where formerly schools of thous ands were met with. Some of the earlier enterprises lasted for a century or more, but with the development of the modern mach ery of slaughter a few years are now sufficient to reduce a species to vanish ing point.

The earliest whal ers of whom we

have any record were the Basques.

They hunted the Biscayan whale near the coast and in the Bay until it be came shy and scarce.

The Basques followed the whales to Norway and Newfoundland, but the fishery was declining rapidly when the discovery of Spitsbergen (then known as Greenland) led to its revival for an other species, the Greenland whale.

This creature was found in abundance in bays and inlets of Spitsbergen, and for about 20 years a bay fishery was carried on and every summer a town was established for the boiling down of the oil. The whales eventually left the bays and were followed by the whalers right up to the ice-floes. This fishery, though carried on by sailing boats and with the primitive har poon, eventually died out owing to the scarcity of the whales.

American Industry

The next phase was the development of the American whale fishery. This, like the Basque and Spitsbergen, orig inated as a coastal and inshore fishery.

Latterly, the American whalers en tered Behring Straits and there at tacked the bowhead —a variety of the Greenland whale, which is therefore circumpolar in distribution. The Am ericans killed hundreds of thousands of whales, with the result that they gradually became scarce. This fact, combined with the discovery of petro leum in 1859, led to the decadence of the greatest of all whale fisheries. To wards the end of the nineteenth cen tury whaling was apparently dying out and it was only the invention of the harpoon gun, by a Norwegian, Svend Foyn, that resuscitated the industry.

This gun, invented in 1860, does not appear to have been in general use until about 1880, from which time mod ern whaling dates.

World-Wide Activity

The coastal fishery for finners began in Finmark, Tronso and Iceland. In 1896 there were 29 steamers off Fin mark and 18 off Iceland engaged in the slaughter of finner whales, and any stragglers of other species which they might encounter. In Finmark alone 13,491 whales were killed in 27 years.

Whaling was also carried on from shore stations in Japan, Korea, West and South Africa, Australia, Tasmania, North and South America, Spain, and finally in the Antarctic.

In 1912 there were 60 Norwegian companies at work over the seas of the world, with 157 whaling steamers equipped with the harpoon gun, 11 transport vessels, and 37 floating fac tories, 30 land stations and nine guano works, with 13 factories for the pre paration of canned whale-meat and cattle-food products.

This year one South Georgian com pany paid a dividend of 100 per cent.

Factory Ships

The radius of whale-killing based on land stations is obviously limited by the necessity of towing the carcase ashore to be cut up; but with floating factories, entirely independent of land stations from the beginning to the end of the season, the whale can be fol lowed to its most remote fastnesses and there slaughtered without mercy. Nei ther the immature nor the pregnant female is spared.

Attempts were first made in 1903 to utilise an oil-burning apparatus on a small steamer. In 1904 a steamer of this kind operated at Spitsbergen; her

We hope that our readers are not becoming weary of whale-oil articles. But the importance of the subject cannot be exagger ated. So long as the enormous over-production of whale oil continues, so long will copra prices be depressed.

The following are extracts from a most interesting article by Dr. Travis Jenkins, published recently in The Sydney Sun, in which the world position of the whaling industry is surveyed, and the point emphasised that the complete extinction of the whales is threatened. Either that, or the present frightful slaughter of whales must cease.

In either event, the outcome will be relief for the coconut planter.

oil carrying capac rels. The earliest ity was 5,000 bar vessels of the kind that went to the South Shetlands were from 3,000 to 4,000 tons, and could produce 300 barrels of oil a day.

In the season 1910- 11 the size was in creased to 6,000 tons, with a daily production of 400 barrels.

After the war came the explora tion of Ross Sea and the shortness of the season there made larger factor ies imperative. The first Ross Sea whal ing expedition (1923-24) consisted

of a 12,000-ton steamer with five whale catchers. About this time the custom of flensing alongside gave place to cut ting up on board.

“Appalling Figures”

The most modern whaling factory is a ship of 22,000 tons, 550 ft. long and 77ft. beam, with a slip astern along which the whales can be bodily hoisted.

Seven killers provide the daily supply of victims. The productive capacity of this monster is 2,500 barrels a day, and her carrying capacity 135,000 barrels.

Her actual production in 1929-30 was 119,434 barrels, or nearly one-sixth of the entire Antarctic production of 1925-26. Her catch was from 1,300 to 1,400 whales. She captures more in two days than the original floating factories of 1904 were capable of carry ing away after a season’s work. And this vessel is only one of many.

In 1925-26 Antarctic waters yielded 1,181,891 barrels, being 66 per cent, of the world production. In 1929-30 Ant arctic waters produced 2,532,445 bar rels; the total world-production is not yet known. The imagination stands appalled at such slaughter.

The blue whale, most valuable of the surviving specie, shows unmistakable signs of diminution. The average length of this species in the 1926-27 season was 85.20 ft.; in 1928-29, 80.68 ft As the minimum length at which the southern female blue whale becomes mature is 77.75 ft., it follows that the supply is now only maintained by the slaughter of the immature.

No species of whale has yet been known to recover from over-fishing.

Oil Worth £4,363,900

What, then, of the future? In 1927 a Committee of Experts was appointed by the Council of the League of Na tions to prepare a provisional list of the subjects of international law, the regu lation of which by international agree ment would seem to be most desirable The exploitation of the products of the sea was included in a questionaire addressed to the various Governments adhering to the League of Nations.

Obviously, one of the most im portant matters to be dealt with is the ruthless slaughter of whales which now goes on in their last place of refuge the waters of the Antarctic. Existing treaties do not deal with the question at all.

More than 15 years ago, Dr. Char cot, who saw the slaughter of whales in the Antarctic, addressed a com munication to the French Colonial Ministry drawing attention to the dan ger of the extermination of these fin ner whales.

At the British Imperial Conference in 1923 one of the speakers, alluding to the wanton destruction, urged the British Empire to adopt regulations; but this is impracticable since whal ing is carried on on the high seas, and the equipment of floating factories makes a land base no longer necessary.

Meanwhile, the terrific slaughter goes on. In the dependencies of the Falkland Islands 14 companies (three British and 11 Norwegian) massacred 13,514 whales in the 1928-29 season, the landed value of the oil being £4,363,900. Enormous fortunes are made out of the life-blood of one of the most interesting and harmless creatures of the universe.