490 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



departure was undertaken by Captain Larsen, who instead of 

 conducting a shore station for cutting up and rendering the 

 whales, took out a "mother ship" large enough to permit of 

 hauling a whale aboard to be there taken care of, while each 

 such ship was accompanied by five small hunting steamers to 

 bring in the catch. At the same time a smaller amount of 

 whaling by this and other methods continued to be carried on 

 elsewhere. According to Sir Sidney Harmer, in 1926 whaling 

 operations were being carried on not only in these Antarctic 

 waters, but also on the southern coasts of Africa, Chile, Peru, 

 and Ecuador, as well as in Australian waters and in the North 

 Pacific on both sides, from Japan to Kamchatka and from 

 Mexico to Alaska; nor was the product of the North Atlantic 

 in the same year inconsiderable. A detailed list of the catches 

 for the year 1926 is given by this author, with the total of 

 whales at the different places. 



Clearly if such numbers of whales continue to be killed 

 annually, the supply will ere long be so reduced that the 

 industry will no longer be profitable. This has, of course, been 

 foreseen, and Harmer points out that not only have whaling 

 operations repeatedly been responsible for a very serious reduc- 

 tion in the number of whales, but also that "when a species of 

 whale has been finally driven from a particular locality it may 

 show more than a reluctance to return to it." According to 

 James Blake (1938), in the Antarctic summer of 1930-31 no 

 less than 42,000 whales were killed, and in the corresponding 

 period of 1935-36 the total was about 45,000. At the same 

 time the statistics are said to show that the average size of the 

 whales is declining, an indication that the inroads are being too 

 severe into the adult breeding stock. 



In 1935, after several years of effort, a convention was 

 entered into between the United States of America, Great 

 Britain, France, and Norway and certain other members of the 

 League of Nations for the regulation of whaling. It prohibits 

 the killing of right whales, Greenland whales, and pygmy right 

 whales, as well as the taking or killing of calves or suckling 

 whales, immature whales, and female whales accompanied by 

 young. Furthermore, the treaty provides that "the fullest 

 possible use shall be made of the carcases of whales taken" 

 for which adequate facilities must be prepared. Other provi- 

 sions relate to the licensing of whaling ships and the keeping of 



