THE ECONOMICS OF WHALING 45 



A rough average of the yield of the four 

 commoner species of whale captured at British 

 stations is : 



Barrels. 



1. Rudolphis Rorqual or Seihval (Balanofitera borealis) . 10 



2. Common Fin-whale (B. musculus) 15-70 



3. Blue Whale (B. sibbaldi) 50-70 



4. Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) . . . f ,-80 



The whalebone plates are separated, scrubbed, and 

 soaked in warm soda solution, washed in warm wat^r 

 and dried in the open. When dry they are packed 

 in sacks. The baleen from the Fin-whales giver, 

 fourteen sacks to the ton. Most of the whalebone 

 goes to Paris, where it is used in the form of fint: 

 threads woven into silken fabrics for stiffening 

 purposes. 



The residue from the meat and bones is dried b 

 a large rotating cylinder. The dried products, 

 which have a not unpleasant smell and look like 

 coarsely ground coffee, are packed in sacks and 

 exported to Norway, where it is used as cattle-food 

 (the meat only). A mixture of meat (two parts) 

 and bone (one part) is used as manure. 



The meat of most of the Balsenopteridae, when 

 fresh, can be eaten, and some factories specialise in 

 canning this for sale as human food. 1 



The water formed by the condensation of the 

 steam in the boilers was formerly discharged into 

 the sea. This water is of a gluey nature, the glue 



1 Whales and Porpoises as Food. With thirty-two recipes. 

 U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Fisheries. Economic 

 Circular, No. 38. Issued 6th November, 1918, 



