290 



DISCOVERY REPORTS 



protection. Naturally no suggestion is made here that there is a case for regulations 

 discriminating against these localities, for other matters besides the prospects of the 

 stock have to be considered, and Humpbacks have already received some protection in 

 the Antarctic and of course through the reduction of whaling during the war. 



Table 30. Features of the catches in tropical, subtropical and Antarctic regions 

 regarded as relatively favourable or unfavourable to the stock 



Turning now to whaling in different parts of the Antarctic, it is well known that Blue 

 whales tend to go into colder water than Fin whales, and factories working in the 

 southern part of the zone populated by whales in summer would expect to catch a rather 

 higher proportion of Blue whales than if they worked farther north away from the edge 

 of the pack-ice. This might not apply so much to the later part of the summer, for there 

 is some evidence that Fin whales are then inclined to penetrate into colder water, 

 possibly because their blubber has become thicker after some time on the southern 

 feeding grounds. 



It is difficult to judge the relative effect on the stock of taking whales in the different 

 Antarctic areas, for there is much less difference between the catches in these areas than 

 between the catches in the Antarctic as a whole and those in subtropical and tropical 

 waters. Some comparison has already been made of the species ratio in areas I-VI (see 



