484 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1913. 



735 or 745. During the last year (1911), the product of the fisheries 

 did not exceed 3,355 metric tons of oil, consequently the amount per 

 whale was not more than 209.5 tons, while in 1910 it was 221 tons 

 and in 1909, 297.5 tons. This circumstance is not due to a decrease 

 in the number of whales, but to bad weather and to the inexperience 

 of the gunners employed on several steamers. It is interesting to 

 note that in the waters of Great Britain 17 Atlantic right whales 

 were captured in 1910, 20 in 1907, and 6 in 1906. It was a capture 

 well worth while, as the whalebone of this species is worth from 

 $5,000 to $10,000 a ton.^ 



At the Faroe Islands there are six companies with 15 steamers. 

 In 1911 their booty was only 344 finbacks and two sperm whales. 

 In 1907 the number was double. This capture of sperm whales was 

 a fortunate circumstance. In one of them two pieces of ambergris 

 were found weighing 17.5 kilograms and valued at $10,500. In 1910 

 one Atlantic right whale was also captured in this region.' 



In Iceland there are also six companies, Avith about 25 steamers.' 

 According to the statistics, which are incomplete, only 350 were 

 taken in 1911, while in the preceding year double that number were 

 obtained, and 843 in 1907. This ground, therefore, seems exhausted 

 or at least less rich than formerly. Several of the companies were 

 dissolved and others abandoned this region to reestablish themselves 

 in the South Seas, where the results are far more remunerative. 



Immediately after the prohibition of whaling on the northern 

 coast of Norway, several companies were established at Spitzbergen, 

 In 1907 there were six companies with 13 steamers, and a seventh at 

 Bear Island with two boats. That year, on account of the large 

 amount of ice in these two localities, only 333 finbacks were taken. 

 Since that date most of the companies have abandoned this archi- 

 pelago and only two remain in Isf jord, one at Green Harbor and the 

 other at Safe Harbor. In 1910 they caught 165 whales and in 1911 

 144 more, one of which was a Greenland whale. This veiy rare 

 species was obtained off the northwest point of Spitzbergen,* in 80° 

 north latitude. In 1913 there was a catch of 845 whales in the North 

 Atlantic and x^rctic Oceans from the English Channel to Spitz- 

 bei'gen. 



In Asia the principal center of the whale fishery is in Japanese 

 waters where it has been practiced from a very early day. Twenty 

 or twenty-five years ago, in consequence of the introduction of the 

 new apparatus, this industry developed rapidly. It was at first in 

 the hands of the Norwegians, but little by little, owing to the boun- 

 ties given by the Imperial Government, the Japanese superseded 



^The price of whalebone bas since lowered. 



= In 1913 there were only two companies at Faroe Islands. 



3 Three companies only in 1913. The companies are moving toward the eastern regions. 



* There Is no more whale fishery (1913) at Spitzbergen. 



