THE HUMPBACK WHALE 



83 



attached to certain definite lines of migration. There appears to be some evidence in 

 support of this possibility as shown by the recovery of lost harpoons in the localities 

 where they were lost eighteen and seven years before, as mentioned above, p. 71. 

 Dr Francis C. Fraser (1937, in lift.) compares the decrease of Humpbacks with that of the 

 North Atlantic Right whale, and points out that the numbers of the latter taken in the 

 Bay of Biscay are not sufficient to account for its disappearance from that region. A similar 

 argument applies to the decrease of the Greenland Right whale in the Spitzbergen 

 " bay fishery ". He adds, " there may be something in the whalers' theory that the animals 

 are actually frightened away ". The decrease in numbers, however, is probably due partly 

 to excessive slaughter, because the Humpbacks have never returned in their former 

 huge numbers to South Georgia. Their capture is now prohibited there, except under 

 special licence, given only when other species are very scarce. Figs. 83 and 84 show 

 the numbers of Humpbacks taken ofT South Georgia and South Africa during the years 

 1909-27 and 1923-7 respectively: figures for South Africa from 1908 onwards, when 



6000 



01 



_c 



o 



QJ 

 _Q 



E 



4000- 



2000- 



Humpback Whales 

 ■Blue and FinWhales 





1903 1910 '19 1 1 ' I3l2'l9l3'l9l4'l9l5'l9l5'igi7 1918 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 



Fig. 83. South Georgia. Catches of Humpback, Blue and Fin whales. 



