The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-02-28
THE WHALE IS NOW
BECOMING SCARCE

to learn that the whale is threatened
with early extinction, yet such is Eever-
theless the caseY that is, unless the
various governments can be induced
to step in and stay the slaughtering
that is now going on. Quite a number
of biologists and government experts
in both Europe and America have now
voiced the opinion that something
should be done, and done without de-
lay. At a meeting of the New York
Geological Society last season, resolu-
ton was adopted favoring the protec-
ton of whales by international agree
ment, says the Milwaukee Sentinel.
Indeed. statistics certainly prove that
the case of the whale demands imme-
date attention. Nearly all species of
these great sea monsters are threatened
with extinction. This is deplorable for
two reason; first, because it will wit
ness the end of one of the oldest indus
tries in the world, that is, whaling;
Secondly, the whale is interesting zoo,
logically, being the largest of all living
creatures that are now to be seen on
our degenerate globe. One species, the
sulphur bottom whale, attains length
of over eighty feet, being of greater
size than the extinct dinosaurs, the
largest Of the wonderful animals of the
past. Captain c. NJ. Seammon, one of
the most observant and scholarly of all
whalers, once killed sulphur bottom
whale that measured ninety -hve feet in
length, with a girth of thirty-ive feet
and a total weight of 294 900 pounds.
The iawbone of the creature measured
twenty-one feet in length, the total
weight of the whalebone obtained from
this single specimen being 500 pounds,
not to mention 10 barrels of oil.
It is the destruetiveness of the mod
ern methods of whaling, practised
chiefly from stations located on shore,
that is mainly responsible for the scar
city of the whale today. Unless the
aeatch'' of these stations is controlled
bv government it is clear that the in
dustry win be ruined. This is evidenced
from the statistics of the whaling IN
duStrV or NeWI0uHulduu.
The importance of the industry, says
the London Sphere, is shown by the
fact that the value of the whale pro-
ducts rose successfully from i3l5 IN
1895 to 300 in 1900 and to $4,000
in 1902. So late as 1904 it was valued
at over 10000. In that year l,2fo
whales were captured. The first whal-
ing station in which modern methods
were adauted was established in 1897,
and its success was so great that IN
1903 four others had been erected and
three more planned, although but three
steamers were then employed.
r. II, MeGrath, who was asked to pre-
pare an account of the industry for the
government at that time, gave an EN-
phatic warning in his report Of the
Newfoundland department OF fisheries
for 1903. He SAID: Six factories
are now IL operation and two more
under erection, making eight In all. In
nv opinion no further applications
should be granted for some years. II
licenses are given without restriction
il will result in complete depletion OF
this industry within short time, whist
il ludiciously dealt with it will be. a
profitable source of revenue and q
great assistance to the laboring people
Of the colony for many years.
This advice, however, was not needed,
the only restriction placed on Whailng
being that stations should not be nearer
one another than twenty miles, and that
each station should employ but one
steamer. The result was that whaling
stations multiplied until by 1905, elgh-
teen were in operation, occupying all
The more favorable locations about.
Newfoundland, Labrador and the Gulf
Of st. Lawrence, and fifteen steamers
were employed. The effects of this
over multiplication were felt at once,
as will be seen by the fact that while
in 1903 three vessels took 1858 whales,
in 1907 fourteen vessels managed to
get but 4S1.
In ten years there have been taken
out of the waters in the immediate
vicinity of Newfoundland 4,2So whales.
The result has been that many of the
smaller companies have been ruined, the
chief sufferers being the smaller share
holders, who had invested their entire
capital. Today the whaling stations
of Newfoundland have to send their
vessels to the Southern seas to avoid
going into bankruptcy. But even mere
the whale is getting scarce, owing to
the establishment of stations on the
Pacific coast and on the coast of Pata-
gonia, while we must not forget that
whaling is now conducted from New
Zealand and even from South Africa.
The whales caught off Newfoundland
are the sulphur bottom and humpbacked
species. They are certainly now scarce,
while the right whale has been success
lively swept from the Atlantic coasts of
/ Europe and North America. then from
the North Pacific and finally from the
Southern seas.
The great bowhead, or polar whale,
, owing to its restriction to portion of
, the arctic seas and the ease with which
it may be taken, is, if anything, mi a
| worse plight than many of the other
species. Some sixty years ago, when
the whaling industry was at its height,
Soma 400 vacSalS from ENGLAND and an