THE WHALING INDUSTRY 



687 



Balaenoptera musculus (the blue whale, giant finner, sulfur-bottom) is the 

 largest whale; in fact, it is the most gigantic land or sea animal of all time. It can 

 now mainly be found in diminishing numbers in the Antarctic, where it was once 

 the backbone of the whaling industry. It attains a size of 100 feet, but averages 

 between 80 and 85 feet and usually yields from 100 to 120 barrels of oil. The 

 minimum size length is 70 feet, but it may be taken for meat when only 65 feet. 

 The importance of the blue whale in the whaling industry in the northern hemi- 



I07 Feet lanq 



largest Known extinct mam m&! 

 (Ba(uchitherium) 



nc\^!y born whale caIF 

 t pepCtie 



(Courtesy American Museum of Natural History) 



Fig. 3.3-1. Scale drawing showing the blue whale as the biggest mammal there is 



or ever has been. 



sphere is already a thing of the past, and its importance in the Antarctic is 

 declining. Recovery of stocks and of usefulness to the industry cannot be expected 

 until it is given a measure of protection as a species. Although the industry relies 

 on the finback whale, it will take the blue whale whenever and wherever encoun- 

 tered. 



Megaptera novaeangliae (humpback whale, nobhead, big flipper, etc.), one of 

 our best-known species, is a rotund, long-flippered whale, having barnacles on 

 head and flippers. It inhabits regularly visited, seasonal, feeding, breeding, or 

 migration areas, generally inshore. Because it is a good oil producer and slow 

 swimmer near the shore, it is the first to be affected by the opening or reopening 

 of a whaling ground. Before turning to the finbacks and others, a company can rely 

 on the local population of humpbacks carrying the operations for a number of 

 years. It is not common now in the North Atlantic or in the Japanese area. It is 

 somewhat commoner in the northeast Pacific; and, in the Antarctic and Australian 

 seas it is returning to some of its former abundance after almost complete legal 

 protection since 1938. The 1949-50 season in the Antarctic reopened the kilUng, 

 and the over-all quota of 1,250 humpbacks were taken during the first two weeks. 

 The International Whaling Regulations fix the minimum length at 35 feet, without 

 exception. 



Family Rhachianectidae: Gray whale 

 Rhachianectes glaucus (gray whale) is from 30 to 45 feet long, and was once 

 the object of extensive whaling off the coast of Southern and Lower California 

 and in Japanese inland waters. Although it was scarce at the turn of the century, 



