176
APPENDICES.
"The whole catch has, during this series of years, been very variable, but it has averaged less in the later years than formerly. Still, in 1900, 2,510 whales in all were caught, but in 1911 not quite 1,200 whales, or less than one half; of these, the Shetlands, Hebrides, and Ireland yielded together a little more than 400, the Faroes about 280, Iceland about 850, and Spitzbergen about 150.
From this last year's (1911) catch 38,000 barrels of oil were produced, and the value of the products was estimated at about 2,500,000 kroners (in 1909, it was about double).
"It can scarcely be doubted that on the whole, in the later years, the toll levied in the North Atlantic has been greater than the whale stocks have been able to replace by new births. In addition, as one of the reasons for the declining catch one can mention that the interest of our whalers has essen- tially focussed itself upon the new and intense whaling which is at present proceeding in the southern fields (South Atlantic)."
Major Barrett-Hamilton prepared the following table from the statistics given by Mr. A. H. Cocks, in his papers on the Finmark whaling, published in the Zoo- logist, 1885-1890; Mr. Cocks has very kindly checked the table and has added some notes:-
WHALES KILLED ON THE LAPLAND COAST, 1884-1889 INCLUSIVE.
(From Cocks's Zoologist, 1885-1890.)
APPENDICES.
The above table may be analysed as follows :—
177
(1) AVERAGE NUMBER OF WHALES CAUGHT AT EACH STATION.
1864.
1885.
1888.
1887.
1888.
1889.
East Finmark West Finmark Russian Lapland All districts
East Finmark West Finmark Russian Lapland
All districts
21.7
67.8
40-2
34.2
65
55.5
70-2
27.5
40
60
25.5
63.5
43.4,
42-7
23 35-8
20 25-5
(2) Average number of Whales caught per Boat.
1894.
1865.
1886.
1887.
1888.
1889.
14.8
43.2
23
22.3
12.4
15.1
-
37.1
37
40-1
13.2
13.75
24
22
30
11-5
10
16.7
38.8
25.1
26.7
20.5
14.8
(at least)
(3) Percentage of each specIES IN TOTAL CATCH (SUM OF CLASSIFIED Whales of EACH YEAR=100).
|:| ། །「 ;། ་
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
19
Reference :--
IC.O._885
23 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
Vossola.
Annual Totals.
These figures will be seen to support the statement made by Mörch, quoted above at p. 157. They have a special interest when considered in connexion with the relatively rapid decline of the humpbacks observed at the Antarctic stations. The moral to be drawn from the Finmark and Murman coasts appears to be that if we exhaust the whale stocks of any given district by over-killing, that district will not be repeopled by whales from other areas (except, perhaps, in a quite remote future); and, further, the colder and more barren the sea the sooner the local whale stocks will be exhausted.
No. of Stations.
Blue
Finner. Belhval
Whales.
Hamp- back.
1824.
1885.
1886.
1.887.
1888.
1889.
1884-89.
Whalers. Toga.
Die riot.
Whole Region.
Blue whales ...
38-3
4.15
15-95
12.65
17.1
4:37
12-5
1884 East Finmark ...
15
West Finmark...
"
Russian Lapland
10 04 04
22
2
3
| 3
128
170
26
3
325 3
Finners
49
33.8
67-7
54-3
52.3
69-2
51-7
= 485
Sei-whales
1-3
55.1
6-5
28.7
21
24.7
28-8
(at least) { (at least)
Humpbacks
11.2
6.37
9.85
4:35
9.6
1.75
7.15
4
1
19
18
1
17
55
1885 East Finmark ...
15
24
West Finmark...
4
Russian Lapland
3
~~
===
*21
827
606
64
1,018
107
118
28
260
= 1,398
1886 Fast Finmark ...
16
28
West Finmark ..
4
"
12
Russian Lapland
2
* 8ã
1887 East Finmark ...
15
West Finmark...
$1
Russian Lapland
-47
23
20 ~
7
| | |
*** 878 8
39
47
4
120
477
४
15 ?
131 7
54 ?
38
៨៩៨
644
22 1
222 (1)
= 954
11
88
57 1
326 ?
108 ?
227
613 (1)
37 ?
102 ? 35
134 ? 3
8. 7.
281
ee
=
854
8
60
1888 East Finmark ...
15
24
over 63
over 177
over 32
over 25
297 (2))
West Finmark...
4
1
47
60
11
11
11
F1
"
Russian Lapland
1
2
6 circa
none
6 circa
119 (2)
23
= 717 ciras
1889 East Finmark ...
18
21
16 circa 301 circa 113 circa 8 circa
West Finmark...
4
8
"
"
Russian Lapland
1
2
4
16
|
438 (2)
20
= 458
circa
At least :-
Totals (imperfect) of each :—
560 2,817
1,288 821
4,866
(3) species.
The notes made by Mr. Cocks on this table are:-
(1) Totals for district correct, but details estimated.
(2) Returns incomplete.
(8) The totals perpendicularly and horizontally do not tally because in some cases I was only told the number of whales killed at an establish- ment, but not the numbers of each species.
In 1882, Svend Foyn took 107 whales.
"In 1883, there were 19 whalers and tugs in East Finmark, which took 406 whales (about 50 humpbacks, and the remainder about half of each blue whales and finners). In Russia there was one whaler, which took 20 whales. In West Finmark there were, I believe, five whalers, but I do not know the number of whales taken; the majority were, I believe. sei-whales."
In concluding this report, I must call attention to the necessity for further research—a matter touched upon several times in the preceding pages.
Further information from South Georgia would be welcome. Major Barrett- Hamilton said in his letter of 12th January, 1914, to Dr. Harmer: Later on, if these investigations are continued, someone will have to go out on the whale- boats and study the whales at sea.” It is greatly to be hoped that good skull material will be acquired for the British Museum from South Georgia; without this, really sound views upon the systematic relations of the southern and northern whales cannot be formed, and it is a matter of considerable practical importance, as well as of great scientific interest, that these systematic questions should be determined.
As noted above at p. 96, it is of especial importance that information concern- ing the humpbacks and their foetuses should be procured from the African coasts, and data relating to the blue whales of this region are also badly needed. From a discussion I had with Major Barrett-Hamilton before his departure, I understood that he regarded Durban as a very suitable place for further anatomical research; and Mr. Stammwitz told me that Major Barrett-Hamilton was still of this opinion while at South Georgia. In a letter to Mr. Fagan, dated 14th October, 1913, writ- ten while on the journey to South Georgia, and after discussion with the represen- tatives of the whaling companies then on board the s.s. "Thor," Major Barrett- Hamilton mentioned "Saldanha Bay or some other station on west coast of South