BEST: LANDED CATCH OF RI(!HT WHALE 



catch of 31.305 animals (some of which may have 

 been taken by non-U. S. vessels). This is 3 to 5% 

 higher than the total estimate of 29,788 to 30,313 

 bowhead whales from the Townsend sample. 



Reeves and Mitchell (1986) have attempted to 

 reconstruct the American pelagic catch of right 

 whales in the North Atlantic during the nine- 

 teenth century. They document at least 116 right 

 whales that were killed and processed by pelagic 

 whales between 1855 and 1897. The present 

 analysis indicates a total landed catch by U.S. 

 whalers of 182 to 186 right whales over the same 

 period. 



These comparisons suggest that, apart from 

 gray whales, the estimates of landed catch ob- 

 tained in this paper are not unduly biased. They 

 are, however, clearly only first approximations. A 

 much more detailed approach, including exami- 

 nation of primary source material, is required be- 

 fore a more reliable assessment of the American 

 catch of right whales can be made. In particular, 

 there needs to be more adequate sampling of log- 

 books prior to 1830. 



It should also be stressed that the figures pro- 

 duced here are estimates of the landed catch; fur- 

 ther work is needed to determine the numbers of 

 animals that were struck and lost, and the pro- 

 portion of these that might have died, before an 

 estimate of the total kill made by the American 

 fishery can be made. Such research, requiring 

 consultation of primary sources, is outside the 

 scope of this paper. Nevertheless, a significant 

 proportion of the landed catch of some species ap- 

 parently consisted of whales found dead. In the 

 Townsend abstracts examined here, there were 

 records of 246 baleen whales processed that were 

 found dead: 127 bowheads (6.39( of the landed 

 catch). 103 right whales (2.97r of the landed 

 catch), 5 humpback whales (0A9( of the landed 

 catch), and 11 gray whales (or 4.4''7r of the landed 

 catch). These figures might be underestimates if 

 (as seems likely) not all the whales found dead 

 were recorded as such in the logbooks or logbook 

 abstracts. Most of these whales probably died as a 

 result of whaling-related injuries. If so, this fact 

 should be borne in mind when corrections are ap- 

 plied to the landed catch to account for whales 

 struck and lost that subsequently died. 



With no correction for animals dying after 

 being struck and lost, the estimated number of 

 right whales taken between 1805 and 1874 as 

 calculated in this paper, 68.484 to 70,250 (of 

 which 79*^ were southern right whales), is about 

 one third of Starbuck's original estimate for the 



same period. This compares with an estimated 

 total catch by French pelagic whalers between 

 1817 and 1868 of 11,000 right and bowhead 

 whales (Du Pasquier 1986). Comparable figures 

 for the British take are not yet available. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



I am indebted to M. A. Meyer for the labor of 

 extracting relevant information from Starbuck 

 and Townsend's tables. Access to some of 

 Townsend's original tabulations was very kindly 

 provided by H. E. Winn (University of Rhode Is- 

 land) and W. E. Schevill (Woods Hole Oceano- 

 graphic Institution), and J. H. Prescott (New Eng- 

 land Aquarium) and W. F. Perrin (National 

 Marine Fisheries Service) assisted in arrange- 

 ments for transport of the data at very short no- 

 tice. Valuable comments on an earlier draft of 

 this paper were received from an anonymous re- 

 viewer and J. M. Breiwick. Statistical advice was 

 provided by D. S. Butterworth. Financial support 

 for conducting this project came from the South 

 African Department of Transport via the South 

 African Scientific Committee for Antarctic Re- 

 search. 



LITERATURE CITED 



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BOCKSTOCE. J R . AND D B BOTKIN 



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