THE LAST PHASE OF WHALING 275 



rona " and the " Shetland," commenced operations 

 on Ronas Voe, a narrow winding inlet of the sea 

 on the north-west of Mainland (Shetlands). In 

 1904 two other companies set up stations in the 

 Shetlands, the " Alexandra " (Norwegian) at Colla 

 Firth, and the " Olna " (Danish) at Olna Firth. 

 The first three had one steamer each in 1904, and 

 the last named four. 



In 1904 two stations were also started in the 

 Hebrides, one being Norwegian, the other a Dane. 

 At first these companies worked without any restric- 

 tions, but speedily complaints were heard from the 

 local herring fishing interests; so that in 1904 the 

 Secretary of State for Scotland appointed a Com- 

 mittee of Inquiry into whaling and whale curing in 

 the north of Scotland. 



The whale first sought by these Norwegians was 

 the large Finner (Balcznoptera musculus) which is 

 found from thirty to eighty miles from land to the 

 north and north-west of the Shetlands. The next 

 important species was the Sei Whale (B. borealis) 

 with occasional Sperm, Blue, Bottlenose, Hump- 

 back, and Northcaper Whales. (See return, 

 Appendix V.) The complaints of the local fisher- 

 men were of two main kinds: (i) That the harrying 

 of the whales injured the herring fishing. (2) That 

 the treatment of the carcasses caused a nuisance and 

 danger to health. 



The latter complaint is clearly one which is capable 

 of being properly controlled and, indeed, the whaling 

 companies practically admitted that any serious 



