PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
UPLICIT CO. 885
سلسا
23 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
158
APPENDICES.
(14 and 15 in German West Africa) :-
14. Kergulen, managers, Storm Bull and Company.
15. German Company, managed by Bugge, Kristiania, Olsen, Larvik,
(16-25) in British South Africa; 16-19 in Cape Colony, the
remainder on the Natal coast).
16. Hans Ellefsen's Company, manager, Hans Ellefsen, Christiania. 17. South African Whaling Company, manager, Johan Bryde,
Sandefjord.
18. Mossel Bay Whaling Company, Johs. Bruu, Tönsberg. 19. Harald Haarfager, manager, H. M. Wrangell, Haugesund.
20. South African Company, Durban,
21. South African Whaling Company, manager, Johan Bryde,
Sandefjord.
22. Union Whaling & Fishing Company, managers, Konsul Egeland &
Larsen, Durban.
23 and 24. South African companies at Durban.
25. Premier Whaling Company, Delagoa Bay (South African).
26. The Mozambique Whaling Company, manager, Johan Bryde,
Sandefjord (Portuguese East Africa).
"In addition, hunting will be done by the Durban Whaling Company (South African). The East Coast Whaling Company, manager, Johan Bryde, will operate from at least one place: similarly, two English companies, as in the previous year, will possibly work from Durban or Madagascar. Finally a proposal to send a Norwegian company to East Africa is being considered."
From this long list an idea of the extent to which the whaling industry has developed recently in Africa can be obtained, and it is not difficult to imagine the reception accorded to the humpbacks on their arrival from the south. In the memorandum (No. 26 in Miscellaneous No. 278) on "Whaling in the Dominions," it is stated that in Natal, of 799 whales caught in 1912, no fewer than 770 were humpbacks. The total numbers of whales caught there in the years 1908 to 1911 are given as 105, 155, 532, and 1,061 respectively; assuming that in these years the percentage of humpbacks caught was the same as in 1912, we may estimate the number of whales of this species taken in these years as approximately 100, 150, 510, and 1,020 respectively. It is worthy of note in passing that, as at South Georgia, the catch was smaller in 1912 than in 1911.*
Speaking of the west coast of Africa, Lieutenant Strong, in his report to the Admiralty before cited, says :---
"It was calculated that last year (1911) about 14,000 whales passed up the coast, of which about 4,000 were killed. This year (1912) there have been about 12,000, of which about 4,250 have been killed.
Probably
a far greater number will be killed next year.
"It is calculated that, at this rate of wholesale butchery, in six years' time practically all the whales on this coast will have been exterminated." Be it remembered that " by far the greatest number are humpbacks.
"}
Though there is a regulation against the killing of calves and of females with calves at South Georgia, no regard is had to condition, age, or sex in African waters. Lieutenant Strong says:-"Many calves have been killed and not used at all," and throughout this region there has been the most wilful waste. This indis- criminate carnage upon the west coast of Africa assumes a particularly grave aspect in relation to the question which we are considering when we recall the fact that the west coast humpbacks are on their "breeding-migration" in the fullest sense (ie., for pairing as well as for parturition). They are persecuted at the precise moment here when repose is essential to the future welfare of the herds. But this is not all; the whalers, as appears from Risting's frank statements, deliberately make use of the pairing as a means of slaying both the male and the female humpback. The following are the passages in Risting's paper which are of importance to the present section of this report:-
* Olsen, Proceedings, Zoological Society, 1918, ii., p. 1084, speaking of South African whaling, Bays: In 1912 an unusually small number of humpbacks was seen; and the trade depended on the 'seihval' [B. brydei] to a greater extent than before."
No. 18A in Miscellaneous No. 278.
APPENDICES.
At p. 2 of the translation herewith (p. 181 below), Risting says:—
..
159
The humpback undertakes great and extensive migrations, and its course appears to be more regular and more constant than that of any of the other large Cetacea. Therefore, if the whalers have found a station from which it can be hunted on its course, it is easier to shoot down and exter- minate than any of the other species. It has, therefore, shown itself that it is usually the first species to be thinned-out on a particular field. This is the same phenomenon which we to-day have occasion to observe, especially at South Georgia and South Shetland."
At p. 6 of translation (p. 183 below) :—
LL
Taken on the whole, the humpback is more ready to pair than are other whales, and the paired humpbacks appear to be good spouses. With regard to their reciprocal behaviour, there is, however, a conspicuous difference, which the whalers have long observed and according to which they have there- fore directed themselves. Namely, when they hunt a pair of humpbacks they seek always to shoot the female first, well knowing that then the male becomes their certain prey also. This is because the male does not forsake the dead female, but searches directly here and there, and displays the most touching affection.* Quite otherwise if they shoot the male first. female will then also immediately search hither and thither, but only for a moment. She quickly perceives that there is something unusual on foot and flees with great speed far from the dangerous spot.†
The
He
"If a male is proceeding alone it is very difficult to approach within gunshot. Is he in the meantime so unlucky as to come into the neighbour- hood of one or more young females it is, as a rule, all over with him. now loses at once all wary circumspection and begins an energetic courtship which as a rule costs him his life."
"It often gives the impression of being very shy and cautious, but nevertheless it appears as a rule to be easy to catch. There are, namely, two things which make it almost senseless; these are courting and the presence of food. A humpback in the midst of 'kril' appears to have no thought for anything but provisions, and an enamoured humpback forgets all regard to
caution.'
"
Risting's paper opens with the statement that the humpback is the whale which for some years has had and continues to have the greatest economic signifi- cance for the Norwegian whaling industry.' The last two paragraphs are (p. 9 of translation, p. 184 below):-
"The humpback has in recent years been caught in disturbingly large numbers at our southern whaling stations. On the grounds at South Georgia and South Shetland it has thus now for some years been caught in thousands of examples each season. Since the chase began on the coasts of Africa it is also, when on its breeding-migration, caught in great numbers. No wonder, therefore, that the humpback stock ceases to return. The majority of whaling managers and marksmen on the southern fields were thus in agree- ment that it now (last season) occurred in considerably less numbers than formerly, This appears in a higher degree to have been the case this summer on the coasts of East Africa. The heavy toll levied has here already noticeably affected the stock.
"However that may be, the humpback still exists in very large numbers, and it will certainly contribute for a further series of years to make the Nor- wegian whaling industry a profitable business." However much the mystified whalemen of South Georgia may debate upon the causes of the scarcity of the humpbacks, it is clear that, at all events, one Norwe- gian, a gentleman who is obviously intimately acquainted with the industry and its methods, has no difficulty in finding the cause and, if need be, in fixing the blame.
The whalers at Shetland told Mr. Haldane they would gladly spare female whales if they could distinguish the sexes at sea; at Belmullet they told Mr. Bur- field they would spare gravid females if they could identify them when swimming. Professor Guldberg says, however, that, from the whaler's point of view, the most valuable capture is a female with a large fœtus. In the special case of the
* Olsen, op. cit., speaking of Balanoptera brydei on the African coast, says: Gravid females do
not seem to be followed by their males as is the case with the humpback whale.' See also Olsen, Appendix III., p. 185.