Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-11-04

great work toward n'iVHiS 'i' p'"''
| from extinction; something perhaps
may now be done to"ard r"Ncnihg ms
warm boOdcd cousin of IN" ocean
plains from the determination that Is
threatened As Il first step the lhl"f-
nation in Mr. Lucas paper IS I" DC
brought t" the attention of Ir5iHia-
| tive bodies in many parts o. tH'
world. Solons Of practically every
civilized country viii thus be appfi%cd
Iof the reasons why mankind Should
| not bring to an end the long pro-
| ccsSe?, Of evolution which began when
| a little animal somewhat like a dog
| first took to the waters ana, nnllkc
| the generality Of CANNES, stayed there.
This project for conservation OF
whales is particularly Interesting. OF
course, to New England on both sen
tincntal and practical grounds. The
| beginning of many q substantial Tor
! tune, now invested in railroads, oil or
sugar. were made in the whale liSh-
cry The whalebone trust still stays
with rs, 50 to speak. And 50 even IN u
fishing village there is more or less
sympathy for the big ahphibian in his
unequal struggle against human m
gcnuity and doubtless most Of the
| PrOvincctoWn spectators last January
| felt secretly sorry. and even Inclined
| to blubber, when Captain Joshua
NickrrSon with his bomb lance finally
got the foot monster that vas en-
/ tangled in the fish Wers of the tar-
| Der. CAPTAIN Josh himself must have
| realized after the excitement was over
: that it was rather mean business, this
| exploding dynamite within the NitalS
| that might have housed a Jonah. AS
! for the average citizen. he cannot but
bcWail the whale. So decorative
denizcn of the deep il would be Il
pity, indeed, to lose. How Incomplete
| is an ocean voyage without the sight
Of a blowing whale,
| But to return to Mr.. Lucas and his
guest The Brooklyn scientist. it
| seems, has been gathering the mate
| rial for this paper since the annual
| meeting Of the society in 1908, when
a resolution was adopted relative to
| the protection Of whales by intcrna
tional action. His conclusions. as now
set forth. hardly confirm the orpor-
tuniSt and optimistic opinions one
hears III New Bedford. Provincctown
/
coast, that in these days of dimin-
| i5hed tonnage of whaling ships the
! great cctaceanS are gra duallY r."
/ plenshing the depleted seas. 1t would
rather appear that the shot harpoon,
hurled from swift vessels which dash
out from IL land station, is proving so
much more effective than the old
| time weapons Of destruction that the
| process of clearing the ocean of these
! largest of it mammals is going right
/ on. In til" old days when whaling
men on long voyages searched the
1artherlnoSt seas for their prey TIN"
! destruction at least went forward
slowly; today. when they just wait on
| short and let the oil bearing mon
j strrS come to them they take many
| more barrels per man per month.
| The species at this time obviously
needs Il scientific protagOnist. Mr..
Lucas finds that, despite the deca-
! dence OF whale fishing as an industry.
Z nearly all species of whales are
/ threatened With extinction on account
| of the destructvrnesS of modern
! methods of whaling.
Mr.. Lucas says in conclusion; We
1 speak of the decline Of the whaling
industry when it is really tn" pass
ing of the whale. for there can be
/ no industry i'll the proper sense of the
| word when there is no planting, only
reaping; no attempt to provide for
| the harvest to be gathered Whales
can be protected and protected very
! easily. but it can be done only by
| international agreement When we
| al
tries like whaling and scaling. now on
the verge Of determination, may be
| pursued for all time"
Although New Bedford people
| Nrithc under the appellation "a
quaint old whaling town." it is Ger
tinly impressed upon the visitor that
| the conservation Of this ancient and
honorable industry is still wortl,
! while for at the wharvcs there tn"
\ Wilalrrs still ron,,rcgatc. a small fleet,
lno"cd, as compared with the one OF
sos NcSscE; employed in 1916, but
large enough I" make the wharvcS a
busy ana sometimes malodorous llacc
| when several Of them are unloading
| o" Quitting simultaneously
| And with allowance for the statiS-
| teal ups and downs to be expected in
| III" products OF Il hazardous calling
the imp"rta;ionS Of oil and bone into
| New Bedford have been large enough
| Of late years to constitute a fair sized
| buSineSS-thouGh inconSidcrablc, of
| course. in comparison with the prin-
! clpal industry "f the city. The totals
| OF barrels of sperm oil brought in
nave varied but little recently. The
smallest recent importation was in
1897, l0,o"o barrels: the largest. i'm
! l9"2 2l,970 barrels. The total i'm
1905 was 1900 barrels in 800
| $3.50 barrels. These represent about
! the average. The importations of
whale oil show greater iluctuation
as from highest figure Of 1925 bar
| refs IN 1898 to d lowest figure of l2GO
! barrels in 1903. The rather success
| iul year 1907 brought in $500 barrels.
Similarly the whalebone important n.
since 1897 have sometimes been very
considerable, as in 1899 when 32O.1OO
pounds were unlOaded in New Bed
| iord' IN some years very small, as in
| l3o?, when only 29.10o We're secured
| me usual number Of vessels not being
sent out to secure it.