APPENDICES.
173
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
HC.O. 885
23 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
(2) of the season 1912-13, made at :—
(a) South Shetlands and Graham's Land.
(b) South Orkneys.
South Georgia (November, 1912, to April, 1913).
(d) Falkland Islands,
as described by Mr. Salvesen (Sci. Res. Scott. Nat. Antarctic Exped., vol. iv., p. 485, 1914).
1911-1912.
Antarotle Stations
Reason.
1912-1913.
Whales.
(chiefly South Shetlands and
South Shetlands And Grabam's Land.
South Orkneys.
South Georgia
Falkland ɔnds,
Graham's Land.)
231
Barrels.
1,530
No.
Estimated Yield in Barrels.
No.
Eelinalod Yield in Barrels.
Estimated
No.
Yield in Barrels.
No.
Estimated Yield in Barrels.
Na
Keimated Yield in
circa:
cires:
Hampbacks
2,301
69,030 1,100
33,000
Finners
1,805
76,700 2,150
Blue whales
963
91,400 72,200 1,750 131,000
176 344
oirear 5,280 2,600
78,000
8 |
240
14,600 2,100 300 21,000
89,200 36
22,500
48
516
"Sei-whalen"
Kight whales
17
1,105 !
Total
| |
Actual yield
5,086 219,035 |5,000 255,400
156,770
200,000
Estimate
exceeds
return by Return
exceeds
estimate by
Estimate Keturu
1
62,265
1
100
71.5
-
55,400
-
100
78.5
280
3882310
800
40,880 5,000 189,700
27,000
1
1 1
13,880
100
T
200,000
***
87
2,286 2,128
|
158
10,300
100
66
105
100 93
899
It will be seen on comparing the figures now given for South Georgia in 1912-13 with those given for the same Dependency and season in Table 1 above (p. 163), that the net result obtained from Mr. Salvesen's figures is, when allowance is made for the slightly different period covered (November to April instead of October to March), practically identical with that obtained from the returns reported by the Stipendiary.
The actual amounts of oil obtained at the Antarctic stations in both seasons are The very far below the yield estimated from the descriptions of their catches. deficiency for the season 1912-13 at South Shetlands and Graham's Land is equal to 21.5 per cent. of the estimated yield, while at South Orkney it is no less than 34 per cent. In 1912-13, according to Mr. Salvesen, 13 floating factories and one shore station operated at the South Shetlands and Graham's Land, while three floating I do not know the factories dealt with the catch made at the South Orkneys. capabilities of this plant; but if the floating factories were as good as the "Ben- guela," which, according to the Memorandum,* has a daily maximum output of 240 barrels of oil, then the estimated yield, with a season of four-and-a-half months at the South Shetlanda and Graham's Land, and a season of three months at the South Orkneys, should have been well within their powers.
No doubt the deficiency is partly due to "the circumstance that in some of these southern localities the whales are only flensed and the carcasses are left to be driven by wind and tide" (Mörch). In part, however, I think it is due to the immaturity
No. 17 in Miscellaneous No. 278.
of many of the whales killed, for it would seem that at certain times the neighbour- Mörch hood of the South Shetlands is visited by large schools of young whales. says, that in February and March, 1910, the humpbacks observed there were mostly young individuals; and in the Memorandum on the "Benguela,"* cited above, it is indicated that ten of the humpbacks found on the west coast of Africa are equal to 12 or 15 of those caught at the South Shetlands. It will probably be found that the finner and blue whales caught in this region, and which now constitute the greater portion of the catch, are similarly immature.
Summing up, we have seen that in the year 1912-13 about 5,000 finners and 3,000 blue whales were killed at the Falkland Islands and its Dependencies; that in 1913-14 at South Georgia, although the finner catch decreased to four-fifths of its size in the previous season, more than three times as many blue whales were caught; that many of the whales of these two species, and particularly of the blue whales, killed were immature; and that a systematic onslaught on such immature whales is apparently contemplated by certain of the companies.
Considering the large size of these whales and its probable consequence, viz., their relatively few numbers, an annual toll such as that mentioned above is, in my opinion, far in excess of the loss which such species can reasonably be expected to sustain without serious peril to themselves and to the industry dependent upon them. The fact that many of these whales are killed while still immature only serves to make the threat of the early extinction of these species the more imminent.
Perhaps I may be permitted to make a few suggestions as to the future, in the It seems to me hope that some of then may be found to be practicable and of use. that if the threatened extinction of these whales is to be avoided, it is essential that steps should be taken to decrease the number of adolescent and immature whales slaughtered, and also to prevent the killing of more whales than can be adequately treated by the factories at any given time.
As regards South Georgia, I think these objects might be attained, to a large extent, by demanding more respect for the Whaling Regulation (South Georgia) No. 1 of 28th July, 1918, than some of the companies appear to show at present, by prohibiting the killing of finners of less than 60 ft. in length and the killing of blue whales of less than 80 ft. in length, by compelling all the companies to provide them- selves with tackle capable of handling mature blue whales, and by forbidding the mooring of whale carcasses for longer than very short periods (say, three days).
With regard to the South Shetlands and Graham's Land and the South Orkneys, I think it wholly undesirable that the industry should continue to be The great waste prosecuted at those places on the large scale of former years. which, as we have seen, takes place at these Antarctic stations, and the fact that many of the whales found in these regions are immature, lead me to think that far If whaling were too many steam whalers are licensed to work in these waters. stopped or considerably diminished at the Antarctic stations the industry as a whole would benefit, since the probable effect would be the protection of large numbers of immature whales which, in due course, would make their appearance at South Georgia as schools of mature animals. The industry in the latter Dependency would thus receive a new lease of life. The present system, which permits the destruction of valuable animals before they have attained maturity and while they are of rela- tively little value, in localities where not even the full produce of these immature animals can be collected, savours strongly of unsound business and, in my opinion, should. if possible, be modified.
The
The season of 1913-14 was remarkable at South Georgia for the fact that in
were caught. February and March a considerable number of "Sei-whales" Stipendiary says:---
It is many years since a sei-whale has been observed here, and cer- tainly never in so large numbers as far as I am aware. It is thought that I do not know if the they have touched here from the Falkland Islands. habits of the sei and the humpback are alike, but the appearance in these waters of the former should, it would seem to me, give at least some idea of the wide and uncertain ocean areas resorted to by the whole Cetacea family and the impossibility of anything approaching their extinction." Mr. Salvesen, alluding to the small yield of oil obtained from the southern Seihval," says:-"It is thus of very small value, and is only pursued when there is scarcity of the larger kinds." The capture of these whales at South Georgia is,
No. 17 in Miscellaneous No. 278.