BEST: LANDED CATCH OF RICllT Wll Al.K 



where .r = year of arrival (>1882) and 

 V = average oil yield (barrels). 



This produces a decline from 63.7 barrels in 1883 

 to 34.2 barrels in 1910. 



Prior to 1883 there was no significant trend 

 with time (b = 0.16 ± 0.16, t = 1.01, P > 0.2), so 

 the average overall oil yield of 206,328/3,080 or 

 67 barrels (CV = 0.024) per whale has been used. 

 Right whales in the South Atlantic were said to 

 yield (when full grown) from 40 to 60 barrels of oil 

 if male and 60 to 80 barrels if female, or about 60 

 barrels on average. Those in the South Pacific 

 and Indian Oceans were said to be smaller, aver- 

 aging 40 barrels if male and 60 barrels if female 

 (Clark 1887a). Eleven right whales taken in the 

 Indian Ocean averaged 59 barrels, with a maxi- 

 mum of 80 barrels (Wray and Martin 1983). In a 

 sample of 29 right whales taken in the North 

 Atlantic, Reeves and Mitchell (19861 found a 

 range of oil yields from 6.5 to about 100 barrels 

 with a mean of 58 to 59 barrels. These figures all 

 agree fairly well with the calculated values used 

 here: the decline in yield after 1883 may reflect 

 market considerations and the relative value of 

 oil and whalebone (see below). 



Bowhead AXTiales 



Oil yield data were available for 39 voyages on 

 which 987 bowhead whales were taken; six voy- 

 ages were to "Hudson's Bay" or '"Cumberland 

 Inlet" (Fig. 2). The latter voyages had generally 

 lower oil yields (22 to 79 barrels) than the other 

 grounds (32 to 184 barrels), possibly reflecting 

 differences in distribution of size groups, or the 

 effects of greater depletion. However, as no dis- 

 tinction was made in Townsend's (1935) tabula- 

 tions between bowhead whales caught on differ- 

 ent grounds, the data set has not been subdivided. 

 Oil yields seemed to decline throughout the pe- 

 riod of the fishery (6 = -1.19 ± 0.48, t = 2.46, 

 P < 0.02). so for any particular year the mean oil 

 yield has been calculated from the estimating 

 equation: 



V = 105.11 - 1.1892 (A- - 1848) 



cline (6 = -0.58 ± 0.73, t = 0.79,P > 0.20). How- 

 ever, in view of the decreasing oil yields vwith time 

 found by other workers and the economic incen- 

 tives after 1880 that favored the collection of 

 whalebone rather than whale oil (see below), the 

 regression coefficient shown in Figure 2 has been 

 retained. 



This produces a decline from 103.9 barrels in 

 1849 to 31.4 barrels in 1910; yields before 1849 

 (for which no data exist) are taken as 103.9 bar- 

 rels per whale. 



According to Scammon (1874), bowhead whales 

 could be classified into three types, yielding on 

 average 200 barrels, 100 barrels, and 75 barrels 

 of oil. Bowhead whales in the Davis Strait were 

 said to average about 120 barrels (males 100, fe- 

 males 140), but had decreased in size "of late 

 years". In the Okhotsk Sea, cows averaged about 

 130 barrels and the bulls about 90 barrels, but 

 once again the whales had been much smaller 

 "during recent years" (Clark 1887a). Oil yields for 

 333 whales from the Western Arctic stock listed 

 by Bockstoce and Botkin (1983) averaged 112.4 

 barrels. These averages are all somewhat higher 

 than the yield calculated here, but (with the ex- 

 ception of the last) they referred principally to the 

 commencement of the fishery. Bockstoce and 

 Botkin (1983) have also documented a decline in 

 the size of bowhead whales taken over time, but 

 the regression of barrels per whale per year has a 

 somewhat smaller slope (-0.61 barrels per year) 

 than in the present case: the mean yield declined 

 from about 119 barrels in 1850 to about 70 barrels 

 in 1900 (cf 43 in the present data). This difference 

 may simply reflect a different measurement — 

 Bockstoce and Botkin apparently only considered 

 the yield of animals for which a barrel-estimate 

 was made by the whaling vessel so that animals 

 may have been excluded if no oil was rendered 

 from them. The present analysis however consid- 

 ers all whales taken on a voyage (whether proc- 

 essed into oil and whalebone or not), so that it is 

 not surprising that its figures are somewhat 

 lower than for previous estimates. An oil yield as 

 low as 49 barrels per whale was calculated for 

 bowhead whales in Hudson Bay between 1860 

 and 1890 (Ross 1974). 



where x = year of arrival 01848) and 

 y = average oil yield (barrels). 



The slope of this regression is very sensitive to the 

 three data points after 1890; their exclusion re- 

 sults in a much slower, nonsignificant rate of de- 



Hunipback AXTiales 



Oil yield data were available for 29 cruises on 

 which 1,137 humpback whales were taken (Fig. 

 3). There was no significant trend with time 

 (6 = 0.31 ± 0.19, t = 1.58, P > 0.10), so the aver- 



407 



