THE LAST PHASE OF WHALING 297 



productive than all the others in the world put 

 together, and its regulation is therefore a matter of 

 considerable importance. 



Reference has already been made to the first 

 attempts at whaling in the Antarctic and to the first 

 company which worked at South Georgia in 1904. 

 The first whaling, in a modern sense, at the South 

 Shetlands, was in the season 1905-6. From 1909 

 to 1911 seven other leases were granted at South 

 Georgia. In both these localities whaling was 

 extraordinarily successful. By 1912-3 the number 

 of whale catchers in South Georgia had increased to 

 twenty-one, and in the South Shetlands to thirty- 

 two, to which totals the whalers were restricted by 

 the Government. 



The following table gives the return of whales 

 captured at the Falkland Island Dependencies for 

 the nine last seasons for which the statistics are 

 available : 



FALKLAND ISLAND DEPENDENCIES. 



CAPTURE OF WHALES. 

 Right. Sperm. Blue. Fin. Humpback. Sei. Bottlenose. 



1 Statistics incomplete. 715 whales not accounted for in 

 detailed statistics. 



