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FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 85, NO. 3 



HUMPBACK 

 WHALES 



1810 



1830 



1850 

 YEAR 



1870 



1890 



Figure 3. — Mean oil yield per whale for humpback whales landed on U.S. voyages 



from 1853 to 1887. 



age overall oil yield of 27,797/1,137 or 24.4 bar- 

 rels (CV = 0.110) per whale has been used 

 throughout. According to Scammon (1874), 

 humpback whales varied more in their produc- 

 tion of oil than all other rorquals. Some individu- 

 als yielded only 8 or 10 barrels, whereas others 

 gave up to 75 barrels; large females yielded on 

 average 40 barrels. Mitchell and Reeves (1983) 

 used an average of 25 barrels per whale, although 

 individual whales yielded from 5 to 85 barrels 

 each. The value calculated here is thus in reason- 

 able agreement with previous estimates. 



Gray VHiales 



There were no cruises in Townsend (1935) on 

 which gray whales were the only baleen whale 

 species taken, on which at least 10 animals were 

 landed, and for which production figures were 

 available in Starbuck (1878). Consequently the 

 average production figure of 35 barrels per whale 

 estimated by Henderson (1972) has been used 

 throughout. 



Average Yield of Whalebone Per 

 Whale 



Average yields of whalebone have been calcu- 

 lated essentially the same way as for oil. How- 

 ever, as Starbuck (1878) pointed out, in the ear- 

 lier years (before about 1844/45), reports of the 

 amount of bone taken were only occasional: 



Most of that commodity was imported prior to 1840 in 

 New London and Sag Harbor ships, its value being so 

 low that captains of ves.sels from many of the other ports 



did not care to be encumbered with it. For this reason a 

 large amount of bone was brought home which it is 

 impossible to properly accredit. 



Figures for whalebone landings were listed for 

 94 to 959^ of the voyages on which bowhead or 

 North Pacific right whales were taken, but for 

 only 30 and 24'7( of the voyages taking other right 

 and humpback whales respectively. Two alterna- 

 tive (and probably extreme) assumptions can 

 therefore be made: A) that only those vessels 

 listed as landing whalebone actually did so, or 

 B) that all vessels taking baleen whales retained 

 the whalebone to the same extent as those for 

 which whalebone production was reported. Aver- 

 age whalebone yields per whale (and trends 

 therein) have been calculated here under both 

 assumptions A and B (Figs. 4 7). 



Right Uliales 



Of the 17 voyages on which 10 or more right 

 whales were taken in the North Pacific, whale- 

 bone production was reported for 16 (Fig. 4). 

 There was no significant trend in bone yield per 

 whale in all 17 voyages (/)- 6.36 ± 13.98, 

 t = 0.46, P > 0.6) or in the 16 for which bone pro- 

 duction was declared (6 = -12.84 ± 12.14, 

 t ~ 1.06, P > 0.3). Consequently overall mean 

 yields of 384,134/341 or 1,126 lb (CV = 0.098) 

 whalebone (assumption A) and 384,134/323 or 

 1,189 lb (CV = 0.082) whalebone (assumption B) 

 have been used. According to Clark (1887a), 

 whalebone yield in North Pacific right whales av- 

 eraged about 1,000 lb per 100 barrels (equivalent 

 to a yield of 1,250 lb for an average whale), while 

 Scammon ( 1874) gave a range of 1,000 to 1,500 lb. 



408 



