-16- 



In that era, heavy demands for seal oil, coupled with 

 poor scientific knowledge of individual species, led to 

 maximizing immediate returns instead of trying to ensure the 

 future survival and productivity of these stocks. The 

 problem was accentuated since as many as nine nations 

 simultaneously competed for short-term gains instead of 

 cooperating to support long-term goals. In the end, the 

 sealing industry collapsed due to its own excesses. Even 

 when under the threat of over-harvesting themselves out of 

 business, sealing companies generally resisted changing 

 their harvest approach. 



At the turn of the century, when the sealing industry 

 was declining and whaling replacing it as a major source of 

 oil, a first attempt was made at managing a seal population 

 to extend its productivity over a long period. In 1904 an 

 elephant seal population on South Georgia was harvested in 

 limited numbers during a lull period in the local whale 

 harvest. This limited harvest was continued for sixty years 

 and produced a reliable yearly yield without adversely 

 affecting the elephant seal stock. 



B. Whaling (Blue, Fin, Humpback, Right, Sei, Sperm, Minke ) 



Vacant whaling stations such as Grytviken, Leith 

 Harbour, and Husvik on South Georgia — their beaches strewn 

 with whale bones — recall the profitable whaling industry 

 in the first half of the century. Within that short 60 year 

 period, the world's whale stocks were reduced by over 85% 

 from 43 million tons to about 6.6 million tons (Laws, 1977a). 



Explorers such as James Clark Ross advertized the 

 abundance of whales in the Antarctic oceans by calling them 

 "a fresh source of national and individual wealth". However, 

 the first few attempts at whaling (1892) in the southern 

 oceans were unsuccessful because of slow, old ships trying 

 to catch fast moving whales (Stonehouse, 1972). In 1904 the 

 first successful whaling station at Grytviken, South Georgia 

 was established. Within a decade a dozen factories or ships 

 (of Norwegian, Chilean, Argentine, and British affiliations) 

 were operable at the South Shetlands; but land-based stations 

 limited flexibility in catch effort. In 1925 steam factory 

 ships were first utilized in the Southern Ocean (Everson, 

 1977) . Their independence and speed, compared to shore 

 stations, allowed a wider hunting range. They were also 

 modified with rear slipways in the hull as well as mechanical 

 strippers and mincers. Rendering capacities allowed ships 

 to catch and process whole whales (Stonehouse, 1972) . 

 Unfortunately, because oil was the primary product. 



