The Nome nugget., 1901-11-20
Immense feeding Grounds
IN the Arctic.
AS TO the BoWAEAD
captain Stem Thinks That This
Valuable Species fiibernates Dur
ing a Portion Of Winter riontils--
Nome as a Base for the Industry.

1T is a mooted question to this day
what becomes of the b0whead whales
during the winter. Every fall, in
November, when the ice king once
more reigns supreme in the Arctic.
they pass out through Berirg straits.
go my to the ~outh along the Siberian
coast. where the natives wavlay them,
and not infrequently manage to catch a
few. Then all at once they disappear.
In days gone by the intrepid Yankee
wha'ers have hung ON the winter
through in Bcring sea in hepcs ola
catch. They were never even rewarded
10y. the sight OF one single whale, and
neither have the Siberian coast natives.
always ON the alert and on the lookout,
ever been known to have seen bow
head whale in the months of Deeember,
January or February.
These whales are never foupdtn the
south. All at once towards the end of
March. when the warm current from
sunny Japan again gains mastery over
tthe cold waters of Bering Tea aud
fbegins to move and break. up the ice.
they reappear. I.have lain for weeks
in the month of March of Cape Mar
'varin, in South Bering sea, enclosed by
heavy ice, with open water holes and
leads here and there, the men in the
crows nest keeping sharp lookout in
vain, when all at once, some sunny
morning. the ice wonld stir and whales
could be seen to spout in every open
water hole near and FAR. Where did
they come from so sudd on1y'?
l am inclined to the belief that the
abowhead whales hibernate: that they
tburrow themselves into the soft ooze at
the Orean bottom in shallow places,
'or perhaps ut the outlets of rivers and
lagoon S, where they get early notice of
the return of spring, and lie there
fquie,ly in Il comatnse condition till the
VAIN ny wa or warns them that it is
time to stir. This. of course, is as YET
simply a supposition, but still we'll
known facts make it entirely ea,ihle.
Fer instance. large hump-back whales
have been observed down in southern
seas,to lie for weeks without ever stir
ing. apparently in a coma ose con-
-, dition,. floating between heavy sea weed
Then it woul be hard matter for
the bowhetds to find sufficient food
lin the nearly currentless, chilled and
ice covered Understanding winter. They
, aubsist, as is well known, on such
'diminutive animal life like small crus-
ataceans, shrimps, ETC.. commonly called
vwhalefeed, which the strong current
ffrom the south carries up SO literally.
1t takes enormous quantities of it to
keep up the energy in their huge
bodies and to enable them to lay on
that heavy coat of bluhtcr. If they
had to gather it themselves, as it COM
monty floats floats in the water, they
would soon starve amid plenty. But
Nature helps them out, and, so tospeak,
ipla .es. Wlerever strong currents
meel and e1dies are created there their
feed is whirled together for them, and
SO they come to have favorite feeding
sgrounds, where. extending wide their
lips and balaena, they can scoop up
'tons of their food at a tiineand grow
big and fat.
When the Yankee whaler first struck
Bering straits he found whales. there
grown to enormous proportions.
Whales that would give 800 barrels of
.oil and had nearly 1900 pounds of
whslebone in their heads were of COM
mon occurrence. Today e. whale Civ
ing 100 barrels of oil and 900 pounds
sof bone is considered big. 'Fhe strong
currents, the narrow straits, the'heavy
.backwater and other conditions favor
sshe storing up Of enournGss quantities
.of whale feed there. To-Day the whales
dare not linger there long. Those that
ha. grown to such an immense size on
thfs rich pasture and would not or
could not accustom themselves 10
poorer ones in the north and had be-
come sluggish, besides staid right
stbsre. were killed off. The whalers
sSound other rich feeding grounds as
sthey penetrated into the Arctic. The
asstone was at the mouth of the Mac.
Nenxie river, where about eight years
ago such phenonsieal catches were
made.
The real summer home of the bow
heed Is and always has been amid the
polaristic ice fields of the Arctic
There the strong summer currents, III
times detected by the solid masses Of
ice, ut times whirling these around
store up whale feed in quantities