50 WHALES 



In 1936 Germany set up the Reichsstelle fur U'alforschung (Government 

 Office for Whaling Research) with headquarters in Hamburg, and Japan 

 followed suit in 1946 by setting up a whale research institute in Tokyo 

 under the directorship of Dr H. Omura. In Paris, Professor Dr P. Budker 

 directs whaling research at the Mus'ee National d'Histoire Naturelle; in 

 Australia the C.S.I.R.O. finances the work of Dr Chittleborough; in 

 British Columbia the work is directed by G. C. Pike; and in Russia the 

 \'.X.I.R.O., with its numerous sub-committees in different parts of the 

 country, directs the work from Moscow. Amongst Russian scientists, 

 Dr M. M. Sleptsov, Dr B. A. Zenkovich, Dr S. \\ Dorofeev and Dr 

 S. E. Kleinenberg have made important contributions to the study of 

 Cetaceans. 



Holland, too, has appreciated the importance of biological investiga- 

 tions ever since she first entered the field in 1946. Shortly after the maiden 

 voyage of the Willem Barendsz (on 3rd October, 1947) the Dutch organiza- 

 tion T.N.O. founded a Research Group which is at present directed by 

 W. L. van Utrecht from the Zoological Laboratory of the University of 

 Amsterdam. It i^elies for its data primarily on information gathered by 

 biologists on board the Willem Barendsz, and also by inspectors, par- 

 ticularly Mr W. H. E. van Dijk. 



Apart from research for commercial motives, the twentieth century has 

 witnessed a great deal of purely scientific work on Cetaceans. It would take 

 up far too much space to list all those scientists and other who have made 

 important contributions in this field, though many of their names will 

 crop up in subsequent chapters. I must, however, make an exception in 

 the case of Sir Sidney F. Harmer and his successor, Dr F. C. Eraser, of the 

 British Museum (Natural History), who did such remarkable work on 

 living Cetaceans, and also in the case of Dr R. Kellogg, the Director of 

 the U.S. National Museum in Washington who, apart from his work as an 

 administrator, made a very thorough study of extinct whales and dolphins. 



In our discussion so far we have ignored the smaller Cetaceans, though 

 man, not content with his big booty, has for centuries been killing the 

 smaller species as well. In fact, it seems to be pretty certain that he first 

 began by hunting porpoises and dolphins, and that it was only sub- 

 sequently that he was bold enough to tackle the larger whales. 



Porpoises (Fig. 18) have been caught through the ages wherever they 

 have approached close to the shore. Sometimes they were caught sporadi- 

 cally, and at other times regularly and in such numbers that we are 

 justified in speaking of an industry in the true sense of the word. This 

 happened off Normandy in the eleventh century, to such an extent that 

 by 1098 legal limitations had to be imposed on the catch. The oil was used 



