THE STOCK OF WHALES 291 



pp. 264-6) and the percentage of immature whales (p. 280). It is clear that in area II 

 the catches are mostly of Fin whales. Few Blue and hardly any Humpbacks are to be 

 found. This is not necessarily because there are more Fin whales in this than in other 

 areas. It is more likely that Blue and Humpback whales have been depleted in area II. 

 In area III a considerably higher proportion of Blue whales is taken, and there is evi- 

 dently a substantial stock of Humpbacks still in this area. In area IV again Humpbacks 

 are plentiful, and probably more so than in area III. The Blue/Fin ratio is uncertain, 

 but there would appear to be considerably more Blue whales than in area II. Less is 

 known of the other areas, but it is probable that in areas I and VI the catches would 

 depend mainly on Fin whales with some Humpbacks in area I. 



WHALING IN DIFFERENT MONTHS 



A point of some importance is the relative effect of whaling early and late in the 

 summer season in the Antarctic. In recent years the Antarctic season has been restricted 

 to three months, and a question sometimes arises as to the desirability of advancing or 

 retarding the opening and closing dates. Tables 23 and 27 (pp. 270 and 277) show that 

 in the early months the catches on the pelagic grounds include a high proportion of 

 Blue whales and pregnant females. For reasons given above this species and class of 

 whale are more in need of protection than most others. Furthermore, the whales are in 

 poorer condition at the beginning of the season, and the products obtained per whale 

 killed are therefore less. In the later part of the season there is a substantial increase in 

 the proportion of Fin whales, a reduction in the proportion of pregnant whales and an 

 improvement in condition (see pp. 270, 277 and 250). (An early or late season would not 

 seem to make much difference to the catches of Humpbacks.) In the later part of the 

 season, on the other hand, there are slightly more immature whales and probably more 

 lactating females, but both these classes have received some protection, the former through 

 the establishment of minimum lengths in 1937 and the latter through the prohibition in 

 1934 of the killing of mothers accompanied by calves. In view of these facts it is to be 

 expected that on the Antarctic pelagic whaling grounds less harm is done to the stock 

 by the killing of a given number of whales in the late summer than in the early summer. 

 This conclusion, however, does not apply to the local industry at South Georgia. Here 

 the Fin-whale maximum sometimes precedes the Blue-whale maximum, so that whaling 

 in the early months does not necessarily bear heavily on the Blue-whale stock. There are 

 again more pregnant whales in the early months and the condition of the whales im- 

 proves in the later months, but the older whales (which are more easily spared) pre- 

 dominate in the early months (see p. 274), and there is a decline in the average lengths 

 towards the end of the season, and a more pronounced increase in immature whales 

 than we find in the pelagic catches. Although the prescribed minimum lengths are 

 designed to protect immature whales, they are below the mean length at which maturity 

 is reached, and the protection is by no means complete. In the circumstances there is 

 some doubt whether the stock is more affected by whaling in the early or late months at 

 South Georgia. 



