270 



DISCOVERY REPORTS 



APPENDIX I 



BLUE WHALES TAKEN IN THE ANTARCTIC SINCE 1904-5 AND 

 OFF THE COAST OF AFRICA SINCE 1910 



These figures are taken from International Whaling Statistics. Since the investigations 

 of Mackintosh and Wheeler at Saldanha Bay (1925) and those of Ommanney and Laurie 

 at Durban (1930) it has been held reasonable to consider the whales taken off the African 

 coasts as being of the same general stock as those taken in the Antarctic. The high 

 percentage of immature whales taken off Africa makes, as Mackintosh and Wheeler 

 point out (p. 467), this fishery proportionately more destructive than the more southerly 

 fisheries. The killing of whales off Africa may therefore be considered for all their 

 relatively small numbers as an important contributory cause in such diminution as the 

 stock of Blue whales may have suffered. 



Figures for the Antarctic catch include South Georgia, South Shetlands, South 

 Orkneys, and all pelagic whaling. 



Blue Whales taken 1904-36 



1 Taken in southern winter of the second year of each pair. 



2 From Hvalradets Shifter, No. 12, p. 18. 



3 From Hvalradets Shifter, No. 14, p. 21. 



