OCEANIC MAMMALS 525 



whales (probably in part of this species) were taken regularly 

 about the Bermuda Islands. 



In the last quarter of the nineteenth century the humpback 

 became a regular object of pursuit at the whaling stations 

 established on the coasts of Finmark, where the modern meth- 

 ods of capture with harpoon guns were instituted. At the close 

 of the century, whaling stations were set up on the south 

 coast of Newfoundland, and many humpbacks were taken 

 during the summer season in those waters. Shortly after, 

 stations were started on the Pacific coast, Alaska, British 

 Columbia, and Washington, and in southern California, where, 

 after about 1925, floating factories operated for a few years. 

 Dr. Remington Kellogg (1931) has compiled statistics of the 

 annual catches made by the stations at these four places for 

 the period 1919-1929, from which it appears that the humpback 

 "for a number of years outnumbered any other species . 

 although the oil yield is not especially high in these waters. 

 A yield of 33 barrels is generally expected of Humpbacks taken 

 off the California coast, while at the Alaska stations the 

 average yield is about 30 barrels for an adult whale." The 

 total number of this whale taken in these eleven seasons was 

 7,295 or nearly half of the grand total of over 15,000 for six or 

 more species. 



Early in the present century intensive operations were be- 

 gun against the humpbacks and other large species in the south- 

 ern oceans, more particularly in the seas about South Africa 

 and South Georgia, and to a less extent in the Australian waters. 



At the South Georgia stations, Matthews (1937) has shown 

 that while during the first season or so of intensive hunting 

 large numbers of humpbacks were taken (in 1910 over 6,000), 

 the catch after that dropped rapidly and, except for the 1915 

 season, never again exceeded a few hundred. This seems to be 

 but a repetition of the story of other regions where humpbacks 

 have been hunted; for "whenever new whaling grounds have 

 been opened up the Humpback whale has always been the 

 predominant species in the catch for the first few years, and 

 has then rapidly declined in numbers. This is partly due to 

 the fact that when whaling was started, in, for instance, South 

 Georgia and South Africa, the plant then available was not 

 suitable for dealing with any numbers of the larger species of 

 whale. After a few years, when better facilities were installed, 



