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APPENDICES.
humpback there is, judging from Risting's account of the practice, no great diffi- culty in distinguishing the sexes at sea; at all events in fair weather. On this point, however, attention should be called to a passage in a letter from the Stipen- diary Magistrate of South Georgia to the Colonial Secretary, dated 8th. April, 1912 he says:"With regard to the possibility of being able to distinguish the female from the male
before capture, this seems to be of great uncertainty.
If the weather is calm and the sea smooth it may be possible to do so A whaler of some years' experience once told me that while hunting he could always tell a female humpback whale from the male by the fin, the female having a gracefully curved fin, while that of the male was & stumpy curled fin." It must be remem- bered, in connexion with this matter, that the range of the harpoon oanton is, accord- ing to Mr. Salvesen, only twenty-five yards.
In the letter just cited the Stipendiary completes the picture of whaling methods of which we get a glimpse in Risting's paper; he says:-
"There is certainly no discrimination amongst the whalers even when they know the difference of sex, and female whales with a newly-born or young calf are deliberately hunted down and usually fall an easy prey to the hunter. The whaler knows well that the mother whale will not travel very fast owing to her calf, whom she seldom--if ever-leaves, and he frequently takes advantage of this knowledge to kill the young calf first, not for its value, which is practically nil, but in order that he may the more easily capture the mother. When the whale is killed the poor mother lingers along-
young side the vessel, and soon meets with the fate of her offspring. Such delibe- rate killing of mother and calf is of common occurrence, not only here, but, I am inclined to think, wherever whaling operations are carried on, and calls for future regulation."
As already mentioned, a regulation forbidding the killing of calves and their dams is now in force at South Georgia. The regulation is not, however, always
respected; but this matter is more conveniently dealt with below at p. 170.
I have now, I think, reviewed all the facts and opinions relating to the increas- ing scarcity of the humpbacks at the various stations in the South Atlantic. The facts prove, to my mind, that the scarcity of these whales is not a local phenomenon, but arises from a very serious depletion of the herds. The suggestion, mentioned in the Stipendiary's report cited on p. 155 above, that the humpbacks may find sufficient food while on their southward journey, and that this may delay or even prevent their arrival at South Georgia, may be well founded; but if it be so, then the mere fact that the whales find sufficiency in the comparatively meagre supply of plankton which is met with in lower latitudes is strong presumptive evidence of their diminished numbers.
It seems to me all but impossible to attribute the shrinkage to anything but the too zealous pursuit of this unfortunate species. I certainly should not like to say that the killing of 5,000 humpbacks at South Georgia in a single season was excessive slaughter, although undoubtedly such a toll would be heavier than that which anyone with biological knowledge would be willing to sanction as fit to inflict upon a Cetacean species of large size and considerable economic importance. But when slaughter to that extent is not confined to one place, but is repeated at two or three different places in each of two or three consecutive years; when it is utterly indiscriminate, and frequently wasteful; when advantage is taken at one place of the helpless affections of the mothers for their young calves, and at another of the stupidity or indifference of the pairing animals during their ently brief sexual season; when, in short, this slaughter is governed by no regard appar- for the future of either the industry or the species, but is stimulated merely by the desire for present profit. I have no hesitation in saying that it is excessive, and that if it be continued it must inevitably, and rapidly, destroy both whales and whaling.
The humpback thus seems to stand in urgent need of protection if its early extinction is to be avoided. Personally I am inclined to think that the depletion of the entire stock of the South Atlantic has been so great that now nothing short of an absolute prohibition to kill whales of this species anywhere during a term of years will suffice to prevent the threatened: calamity. If such a prohibition be impracticable, a "close season "
ought to be declared, and a regulation of universal application against the killing or shooting of ". any whale calf, or any female
*No. 12 in Miscellaneous No. 278:
APPENDICES.
161:
whale which is accompanied by a calf" should be made. I am unable to find any definite recommendation on the subject by Major Barrett-Hamilton among his memoranda, but he appears to have contemplated a "close season
; on his
copy of the letter from the Stipendiary Magistrate of South Georgia to the Colonial Secre- tary there is, in his handwriting, the following pencilled note:-"? Close season in October and November."
With regard to the time for such "close season" I now, as the result of further work and discoveries of recent literature, take a somewhat different view from that expressed in my Preliminary Memorandum. It is now clear that the waters of the African coasts form the principal scene of the breeding operations of the hump- backs, and, since repose during the breeding season is absolutely essential to the future welfare of the species, attacks upon them should not be permitted at all in this region. Some pairing also appears to be done at South Georgia in the spring or early summer. A close season" extending from May to November in all parts of the South Atlantic, and on the East African coast also, would undoubt- edly do much good; and in any case a ** close season "3 on the African coasts, embrac ing the months of May, June, July, and August is an imperative necessity.† regulation limiting the number of humpbacks to be taken during, a given season by any one whaler, such as is apparently contemplated by Section 3, Sub-Section d of the Whale Fishery Ordinance, 1908 (Falkland Islands), might be of great value and should, therefore, be considered.
A
The humpback is, as shown above, still the chosen quarry of the whalers, when. they can find it; the whalers will, therefore, probably not welcome any restrictions which may be put upon its chase. The species, however, now forms but a small item in the total catches made in the Dependencies of the Falkland Islands, and it is growing very scarce, at least, on the African coasts; therefore restrictive regulations, or even the absolute prohibition of the capture of these whales, should not entail any very serious financial loss either to the whaling companies or to the Colonial revenues. Any such present loss will, in all probability, be far more than compensated in the future, since such restrictions as those suggested will probably have the effect of repairing a good deal of the damage which has been done to the humpback herds. This part of the southern whaling industry has now waned almost to vanishing point, but if strong action be taken at once it will stand a good chance of future revival, and it may then, if carefully controlled, contribute for many years towards making whaling an industry lucrative to both the whaler and the revenue.
We have now to consider the question whether the finner and the blue whale will be able to withstand the attack now beginning if this attack be allowed to develop along the lines of that which has proved so disastrous to the humpback.
Two general matters merit attention at the outset. The normal rate of propa- gation of these whales is apparently no faster than in the humpback; considerable time will, therefore, be required for the repair of any material loss which may be inflicted upon these species. But the breeding season proper, of both finners and blue whales, appears to be longer than that of the humpbacks, and a certain number of the females appear to be fit for breeding in most, if not all, months of the year. This long polycestrous sexual season no doubt favours the chance of survival pos- sessed by these whales in the event of a future severe and indiscriminate persecution. On the other hand, the finner is much larger than the humpback, and the blue whale is the largest of all mammals. It is a general rule, apparently to a large extent the result of a limited food supply, among mammals that the species of larger size are represented by fewer individuals than are the species of smaller or more normal dimensions. This rule is, in all probability, applicable to the Cetacea; if so, then the initial stock of finners, and particularly of blue whales, available in the South Atlantic, is smaller than was the initial stock of humpbacks. Indiscriminate slaughter will, therefore, be likely to bring these two larger species to the verge of extinction even more rapidly than it has done in the case of the humpback.
* No. 12 in Miscellaneous No. 278.
See Appendix III., p. 185, Olsen.
162
APPENDICES.
In the season of 1912-13 there were killed in:-
South Georgia
South Shetlands and Graham's Land
South Orkneya
Falkland Islands
Total
Finners.
Blue Whales.
1,724
2,150 (circa) 344 (circa)
212 1,750 (circa) 280 (circa)
36
4,254
2,242