292 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



alternative size restriction might be one designed to protect immature females. Judging from Table 19, 

 p. 265, this could be placed at 30 ft. or about 9 m. It may be that this restriction would protect 

 immature males also, since it is possible that males may mature at a shorter mean length than the 

 present estimate of 9-6 m. (p. 264). In any case, a polygamous species can afford to lose more 

 immature males than immature females, although it is well to bear in mind that we do not know how 

 much bigger a male sperm whale may need to grow after maturity before it can gain access to a harem 

 and become an effective breeder. 



It is important to remember that the effects of whaling with modern whalecatchers may not be 

 compared with those resulting from an open boat fishery conducted from the shore. The whaleboats 

 of the Azores depend primarily upon the limited horizon of the cliff look-outs ; and they are further 

 limited in catching power by the skill and strength of their crews, and in range by the hours of pulling, 

 sailing and towing between dawn and dusk of a single day. In these conditions they are exploiting, 

 apparently without undue depredation, only the fringes of a stock which presumably extends well 

 beyond their range and which therefore has a reserve for replenishment which the whaleboats cannot 

 plunder. Much more of the stock would, however, be within the range of a steam whalecatcher and the 

 rapid execution of its harpoon gun. Should the modern catcher ever be introduced to the Azores it is 

 unlikely that the stock, and therefore the industry, would long survive without rigorous controls 

 including the substantial protection of females at present afforded elsewhere by the international 

 regulations. 



The open boats of the Azores and Madeira are relics from a vanished age of whaling. But in the 

 setting of these islands and their particular economy, open boat whaling is an efficient industry with 

 the lowest of operating costs. The increased catches, whether sustained or not, which may be ex- 

 pected to result from steam whaling, would not necessarily compensate for the vastly increased 

 expenditure in capital, running costs and crew salaries. It is in production of oil and by-products 

 that improvements are most desired, and these are going ahead.* 



Nevertheless, the question will some day arise whether or not to replace the open boats by powered 

 catchers. I hope that those who decide will bear in mind that the problem is not entirely one of 

 financial profit or loss. Open boat whaling is a fine way of life and deserves to be fostered as a part of 

 the Portuguese inheritance. The Azores and Madeiran whalemen, like their compatriots the dorymen 

 of the Grand Banks, keep for Portugal a reserve of experience got by sailors nowhere surpassed in 

 skill and courage. 



SUMMARYf 

 Complementary to an earlier account of the open boat fishery (Clarke, 1954a), this report deals with 

 the biology of sperm whales exploited round the Azores. Throughout, the findings are compared with 

 what is known of sperm whale stocks elsewhere. 



The material comprises data and collections from 148 male and 174 female whales examined 

 anatomically at Horta, Fayal, between 1949 and 1954; five small foetal whales from Fayal; and pub- 

 lished and unpublished whaling statistics, from Fayal and the Azores generally, between 1896 and 



1954- 



* Visiting the Azores in the summer of 1955 I found that the numerous ancient try-works, which I had seen in 1949 

 producing an inferior oil from blubber and wasting the meat and bone, had all been superseded, except at Porto do 

 Castelo, Santa Maria. All whales now caught in the archipelago, other than at Santa Maria, are towed to one or other of the 

 four steam-powered factories operating in San Miguel, Fayal, Flores and Cais do Pico (Clarke, 1954a). A fifth factory will 

 soon be operating at Lagens do Pico. 



t This summary has been published as a separate paper in Portuguese and English (Clarke, 1956a). 



