The Annals 



of 



Scottish Natural History 



No. 60] 1906 [OCTOBER 



NEWFOUNDLAND FIN WHALE FISHING 



IN 1905. 



By THOMAS SOUTHWELL, F.Z.S., ETC. 



I HAVE received the Report of the Department of Marine 

 and Fisheries of Newfoundland, and by permission of the 

 editors of the " Annals," beg to append a few particulars of 

 the season's Fin Whale Fishing, which will perhaps be of 

 interest when read in connection with Mr. Haldane's ex- 

 cellent paper on the Shetland Fishery, which appeared in 

 the last number of the " Annals." 



The results in the past season have been very unsatis- 

 factory, the total number of whales of various species killed 

 being only 892, as compared with 1275 in 1904 ; and this 

 notwithstanding the number of stations having been increased 

 from 1 4 to 18. Of these, 460 were Finners; 161 Humpbacks; 

 263 Sulphurbottoms (Balanoptera sibbaldii} ; 2 Rudolphis 

 (B. borealis] ; and 6 Sperm Whales. The three first species 

 were about equally distributed over the fishing grounds, 

 including Belle Isle and Labrador, but the only failure was 

 on the west coast. As last season the Rudolphis Whales, 

 which are rare in the Western Atlantic, were taken by a 

 vessel working from a southern station, whereas the bulk of 

 the Norwegian captures recorded in Mr. Cocks's reports took 

 place north of 70 N. lat., if the species of these whales is 

 rightly determined, it would appear to have a much more 

 60 B 



