THE WHALING INDUSTRY.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17721, 24 March 1923, Page 5

THE WHALING INDUSTRY.

HOW LONG WILL IT LAST ?

In a recent lecture, before the Association of Economic Biologists, in London, on the present position of the whaling industry, Sir Sidney Harmer insisted that the efforts of all lovers of Nature should be directed to the restriction of whaling to an amount which is not inconsistent with the . permanent preservation of thesei maenincent marine animals, and of the industry which they are so unfortunate as to support. This industry is now mainly confined to the South African coast and the Antarctic seas; .areas unexploitecL by whalerß till 1905. Since then, till now, slaughter on a scale unprecedented in the annals of whaling has been relentlessly and recklessly prosecuted. Diminishing Numbers. When the Antarctic ''fishery" . commenced, from whaling stations established at South Georgia, humpbacis whales and rorquals swarmed, there. During the first few years the hrstnamed species were alone pursued, up to 1913 they were killed in thousands. From that time their numbers began seiiously to diminish, so that it became necessary for the whalers to turn their attention to the more agile rorquals, which in turn became subjected'to the dame devastating pursuit. ~' . ' 'That men of science look upon this insensate slaughter with feelings of horror and disgust goes without saying, for unless "immediate and drastic measures are taken, to restrain those engaged in this industry "baleen" whales will soon share the fate of the dodo and She great auk! For the hand of the destroyer leaves these creatures no ..chance of recuperation.. They, come down from the coasts of South Africa, lean and hungry; to feed on the swarms of minute Crustacea, known to the whalers as "kril." For here only, in the great wide sea, do these tiny creatures find such favourable conditions. For three or four months these leviathans of the deep gorge themselves, and, having waxed fat. return northwards to breed. Here they are "no less harassed from a series of stations established from Portuguese West Africa, south and eastwards to Durban. •

' A Ray of Hope. The humpbacks again suffer first. They are easily approached and slain during the v pairing season, and the cows and calves are no less easily Victimised later.

But there remains a ray of hope that at least a remnant may be-- saved. South Georgia is one or the Dependencies of the Falkland Islands, which'is under our control. And we believe that our Colonial Office has taken note of the matter and is taking steps to control the "fishing." "We trust that the number of vessels engaged will be reduced, and that "floating factories" will be prohibited. Though to effect this it will probably be necessary to secure international agreement. The whalers themselves endeavour to explain the falling off of the number of humpbacks killed during the last few years by urging that thsse, creatures have, sought other hunting grounds These have no existence in fact. Whales, like all other creatures, must eat to live, and such as live south of the Equator can find a sufficiency only m Antarctic waters. They can be savei from annihiJa.tfHn oinly by absoltate protection in their breeding area, and at least partial protection in their feeding area. [A cable message received last week said: The Agent for the Crown Colonies has purchased Scott's Antarctic ship Discovers' from the Hudson Bay Company, and she will •be utilised by the Colonial Office for an expedition to study the habits of whales in the vicinitv nf the Falkland Islands. The vessel is being refitted, and starts towards the end of the year.]