age group. Twelve dead calves were 

 found in Laguna Scammon: 5 in 1954, 

 2 in 1956, and 5 in 1957. Measure- 

 ments of seven are as follows (length 

 in feet): 11.6, 12.0, 12.5, 13.4, 13.9, 

 14.7, 14.8; mean 13.25 feet. The sex 

 of only two carcasses was identified, 

 a male 12.0 feet and a male 14.7 feet. 

 The causes of death among calves are 



not known. Presumably, as in other 

 mammals, congenital defects, failure 

 of the female to provide adequate milk, 

 and accidents cause some mortality 

 among the newborn. 



During four seasons of study in 

 Laguna Scammon, only two dead adults 

 were found; both were stranded. 



HISTORY OF THE CALIFORNIA GRAY WHALE 

 POPULATION, 1850-1952 



Annually, fronri the 1850's to the 

 1890's, the California gray whale was 

 captured systematically in winter along 

 the coast of California and Baja Cali- 

 fornia from shore stations and from 

 whaling ships. Ships entered the la- 

 goons and harassed the cows with 

 calves, as well as the breeding adults. 

 Unrestricted whaling on the breeding 

 grounds reduced the herd from a high of 

 perhaps 25,000 to 50,000 to a low of a 

 few thousand animals (Gilmore, 1955). 



Andrews (1914), as well as Howell 

 and Huey (1930), and Zenkovich (1934), 

 considered the gray whale headed for 

 extinction. The smiall, residual Cali- 

 fornia herd at the turn of the century 

 escaped detection by zoologists be- 

 cause no serious effort was made to 

 look for them. 



From the 1890's to the early 1920's, 

 gray whales off California were rela- 

 tively unmolested. Shore operations 

 from Monterey and San Pedro were 

 small. A Norwegian factory ship hunted 

 for a time off Baja California. The 

 California herd was actually increas- 

 ing, though at a rate unknown. A. W. 

 Anthony (1921) reported that gray 

 whales were "common" off San Diego. 



From 1924 through 1937, the Cali- 

 fornia gray whale was hunted in 

 southern California and Baja Califor- 

 nia during winter, and off northern 

 Kamchatka and in the Chukchi Sea 

 during summer. Throughout this pe- 

 riod, the gray whale was thought to 

 be scarce, numbering perhaps a few 

 hundred individuals. From 1935 to 

 1938, Karl W. Kenyon (in lit.) fre- 

 quently observed gray whales off 

 southern California and did not con- 

 sider the species scarce in that area. 



In 1936 (to take effect in 1937) the 

 United States Government prohibited 

 the capture of gray whales by Ameri- 

 cans in American waters. In 1937 (to 

 take effect in 1938) the International 

 Convention for the Regulation of 

 Whaling, signed in London, gave the 

 gray whale complete protection over 

 its entire range. 



In August 1940, before Japan be- 

 came a party to the Convention, Japa- 

 nese nationals took 58 gray whales 

 in Chukchi Sea and Bering Strait from 

 the floating factory Tonan Maru (original 

 records). Since 1947, unrecorded num- 

 bers, though certainly few, have been 

 captured by aborigines of the U.S.S.R. 

 off northern Kamchatka and the 

 Chukotsk Peninsula. 



From 1946-47 to 1951-52, Dr. Carl 

 L. Hubbs estinnated the numbers of 

 gray whales migrating southward past 

 La Jo 11a by instituting a "whale -watch" 

 atop a classroom building at Scripps 

 Institution of Oceanography. The 

 whale -watch was maintained by volun- 

 teers about 15 minutes out of each 

 daylight hour. The total estimated day- 

 light migrations for the first six years 

 are as follows (unpublished notes by 

 courtesy of Dr. Hubbs): 



1946-47 250 whales 



1947-48 500 



1948-49 600 



1949-50 600 



1950-51 no estimate 



1951-52 880 whales 



In December 1952, the Fish and 

 Wildlife Service began a study of the 

 California gray whale population. It 

 continued until the end of the 1956-57 

 season. (See objectives, page 3). 



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