294 



NATURE 



[June 12, 1919 



launched from the parent ship on sighting a whale. 

 The objects of their chase were principally the Green- 

 land whale, the Atlantic right whale, and the sperm 

 whale; and they were unable to attack and capture 

 the larger and swifter rorquals. 



About 1865 the Norwegian whaling captain Svend 

 Foyn invented the modern whaling-gun, which was 

 fitted with an explosive tip and a barbed har- 

 poon carrying a strong rope. The explosion was 

 regulated so as to occur immediately after the har- 

 poon hit the whale, which is sometimes killed at once, 

 and in any case is severely injured by a successful 

 shot. The gun is carried in the bow of a steam- 

 whaler, which chases the animal until a favourable 

 opportunity for shooting occurs. These methods have 

 revolutionised whaling, and there is now no whale 

 which is too large to be captured. 



In the prosperous days of the Greenland whale 

 "fishery," 1437 whales were caught by seventy-six 

 ships in 18 14 — an average of not quite twenty whales 

 to each vessel — and this is mentioned by Scoresby 

 (1820) as a specially good year. At the present day 

 the number of whales caught by a single vessel during 

 the whaling season of six months may rise to more 

 than three hundred; and the total number caught 

 off South Georgia and the South Shetlands together 

 has exceeded 10,000 in one year. Bearing in mind 

 the universal history of whaling in the past — a period 

 of prosperity succeeded by a rapid decline and a final 

 abandonment of the industry — the question arises 

 whether there is not a serious danger that sub- 

 Antarctic whaling will have a similar experience. 



The question of the disappearance of the whales is 

 not merely a sentimental one, though zoologists would 

 naturally view their extermination with deep concern 

 on scientific grounds. The plea for their preservation 

 may be strengthened, however, by emphasising the 

 fact that they are of the highest economic importance. 

 The baleen or whalebone of the right whales is a 

 material of much practical utility for many purposes; 

 but its importance is almost negligible compared with 

 that of the oil which is derived from the blubber and 

 other parts of whales. Whale-oil can be readily trans- 

 formed into soap and glycerine, while it is possible to 

 prepare from it a fat which is perfectly inodorous and 

 is utilised in the manufacture of margarine. During 

 the war it has been of vital importance. Enormous 

 quantities of glycerine derived from it have been used 

 for the manufacture of explosives, and it has been 

 scarcely less important in its relation to the food supply. 

 If whale-oil had not been obtainable, the glycerine 

 which was essential for our national security must 

 have been derived from other animal fats or from 

 vegetable oils, and the shortage of fat required as 

 food would have been very serious. After the oil has 

 been extracted on the whaling grounds, the remainder 

 of the carcass may be dried and ground down into 

 "guano," which is valuable as a fertiliser for crops, 

 and is also utilised for the preparation of cattle-foods. 

 It is not always possible to carry out this part of the 

 process, and an enormous waste of valuable material 

 may result from this omission. Since it is well known 

 that the flesh of Cetacea iS fit for human food, it is 

 by no means impossible that a part of the enormous 

 quantity of meat which might be obtained from them 

 may be so utilised in the future. 



Although a few right whales and sperm whales are 

 captured by the sub-Antarctic whalers, who occasionally 

 kill some of the smaller Cetacea as well, the industry 

 in these waters is almost entirely confined to three 

 species of the larger whales. Of these the humpback 

 rarely exceeds 55 ft. in length, the fin whale is not 

 much more than 85 ft., while the blue whale, probably 

 the largest animal that has ever existed, is sometimes 

 more than 100 ft. long. In the first few years of 

 NO. 2589, VOL. 103] 



sub-Antarctic whaling the humpback constituted nearly 

 the whole catch, even more than 96 per cent, in 

 1910-11, when 5299 individuals of this species were 

 captured off South. Georgia in the six months of the 

 principal whaling season. In 1912-13 the number of 

 humpbacks caught in the same locality, in the corre- 

 sponding six months, fell to 2251 (about 53 per cent, 

 of the total catch), and in 19 13-14 it was reduced to 

 474 (about 18 per cent.). This diminution, which has 

 persisted to the present time, has been due largely 

 to a reduction of the number of humpbacks frequent- 

 ing South Georgia; but it has been partly caused by 

 an increase in the size of the whaling vessels and of 

 the strength of the tackle employed, enabling the 

 whalers to hunt the larger kinds, which naturally 

 yield more oil and other products than the compara- 

 tively small humpback. The whaling industry thus 

 depends at present almost entirely on the fin whale 

 and the blue whale. It is noteworthy that the fin 

 whale, of intermediate size, first rose to prominence 

 on the decline of the humpback ; but the gigantic blue 

 whale has now surpassed it, and has become the 

 favourite object of the whalers' pursuit. There is at 

 present no certain evidence of the reduction in 

 numbers of fin whales and blue whales. 



In explaining the reduced number of humpbacks 

 frequenting the \<?haling grounds, the whalers rely on 

 the hypothesis that individuals of this species are of 

 a timid nature, and are readily frightened away from 

 a locality by pursuit. There is probably some truth 

 in this view, but it is at least possible that the reduc- 

 tion is due to a diminution in number of the total 

 stock of humpbacks. Whales are migratory animals, 

 and their movements are almost certainly influenced 

 by two causes : (i) the distribution of their food 

 supply; (2) the position of their breeding grounds. 

 The plankton organisms on which the whalebone 

 whales subsist are present in vast quantities in polar 

 waters during the summer, and the whales are ac- 

 cordingly found there at this period. Towards the end 

 of the summer or the beginning of autumn most of 

 them forsake high latitudes. The southern humpback 

 executes extensive migrations northward^, along the 

 coasts of the great southern continents, to the neigh- 

 bourhood of the equator, and even beyond it. It is 

 in these warmer waters that it is known to breed, 

 and it afterwards proceeds southwards in the ensuing 

 spring. One of the most alarming facts about this 

 species is that it has been extensively hunted along 

 the coasts of Africa, South .America, and elsewhere. 

 Although it is not possible to assert positively that 

 the South Georgia humpbacks are thus affected, there 

 are strong reasons for believing that this is the case; 

 and it would thus follow that this species is per- 

 secuted in sub-Antarctic waters during the summer, 

 and further north during other parts of the year. 

 Remembering that the old whalers reduced the Green- 

 land whale almost to the point of extermination by 

 the use of what may now be regarded as primitive 

 methods, and that a similar fate has befallen the onoe- 

 flourishing whaling industries of other localities, it 

 thus appears that there are the most urgent reasons 

 for seeking to afford some immediate measure of pro- 

 tection to this and other species of whales. 



In devising methods for the protection of animals, 

 the principle of saving them from being hunted during 

 their breeding season has been found specially effec- 

 tive. It is very difficult to get complete information 

 on this subject with regard to whales, but one of the 

 ways in which a conclusion may be reached Is the 

 examination of foetal records, a method which has 

 alreadv been adopted with some success bv Guldberg 

 and others. Bv the study of a relatively large mass 

 of statistics which has been supplied to the British 

 Museum (Natural History) by the whaling companies 



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