ROSS SEA WHALING

Evening Star, Issue 19387, 22 October 1926, Page 8

ROSS SEA WHALING

WITH THE NORWEGIAN SKIPS DOCTOR’S ADDRESS TO UNIVERSITY CLUB. ‘ Whaling in tho Ross Sea ’ was tho subject of a short but highly interesting address which Dr lleishovd, medical officer on the Norwegian whaling expeditions, gave to members of the University Club at the weekly luncheon to-day. All the seats were taken, and, so great was the interest,in the announcement, that twenty members were unable to gain admittance. “ Wo have a treat in store for us today,” said Dr Herons, the president, wlio added that Dr Reishovd had been a valued member of the club since May, 1925. He was tho only Norwegian member of the club.

Dr Reishovd said the Ross Sea was a great inlet into the Antarctic continent, twice the size of the North Sea. In the first part of summer the Ross Sea was blocked with ice. When the ice broke the whalers passed through the sea in early summer. In August, 1925, the factory ship had left Norway and joined the catchers at Stewart Island. The fleet, comprising the mother ship, of 12,000 tons, and the five catchers, with a complement of 202 men, left for Ross Sea in October. To keep the boats together in fogs sirens had to be kept going continually, and the temperature of the water was tested for icebergs. Five days after tho fleet had left Campbell Islands the first iceberg was noticed, together with floating ice. The ships had to plough later through thick ice. Day in and clay out the big ship punched her way through ice of a thickness which had'never before been penetrated by ships other than icebreakers. Once tho ice had packed between the mother ship and the catchers, and tho big boat had to make a circle and free the small boats by rutting another path through tho ice. But on December 14 tho ships got through, after being thirty-eight days in the ice, and COO miles of pack ice was left behind. The whaling commenced, and to the general surprise a whale was caught on the first day. Tho whales came from tho north, and must have made a detour of the pack. Tho ships went over to near South Victoria Land, where they stayed for six weeks. Day and night, with the continual daylight, the little catchers wore amusing after the whales, often going sixty or seventy miles from the base Dr Reishovd briefly described the various species of whales. U nfortunntcly for him t lie whale bad to come to tho water surface to breathe, and that was when ho was harpooned from the chaser. When tho harpoon penetrated the whale’s skin an explosion occurred, and the whale died quickly. Air was blown into tho whales to keep them afloat, and a flag was hoisted over the carcass. The catcher then moved away alter new catches. With a haul of "four the catcher returned to the base ship. It was necessary that the whales should be cut up as early as possible, as decomposition set in fast. In January the boats moved down into Discovery Inlet, as far us any ship had gone. The ice commenced to come in, and on February lb the fleet left on the return to New Zealand, the first sunset for three months being witnessed two days later. Thero were plenty of birds in the South Seas, where other animal life was plentiful. The birds had a great time during the fishing, as they would return in increasing numbers next year. The seals were of no commercial value, as they were not fur seals. In his first year in the Ross Sea he saw no fish, but last year he had seen thousands of dead or dying fish on the surface. The cause might have been volcanic disturbance, but his belief was that they had come from the north and had been killed by changes in the water temperature. Whale feed consisted of small shrimps, and he had seen tho sea red with them. Will the whalers exterminate the whale? His answer is “ No.” For the whalers to get hold of hundreds there must bo thousands of whales in the sou. To get only IUO whales would mean a loss of £IOO,OOO to the company and for the expedition. Whaling in Ross Sea would have ceased if tho whales had been reduced to 1,000. The Ross Sea whaling was not so extensive as near South Georgia and South Shetlands, and the SUU whales taken would not wipe out the whales. The hump - back, when caught in some places in one year, disappeared when the ships returned twelve months later. He considered that if the whaling continued on its present big scale it would kill itself, for the whales would go so far down that it would not be profitable to chase them. To send a fleet from Norway was enormously expensive, and the whales had to bo caught. As to the destruction of the whales, nobody could blame them, as they considered it more important for Norway to keep its people alive before the whales were allowed to survive.

On tho motion of tho Hon. G. M. Thomson, who said that tho extermination of whales was an international problem, Dr Reishovd was accorded a vote of thanks for his address. Mr Thomson cited the destruction of seals on an island in Behring Strait, and how the action of the Governments of Great Britain, Russia, United States, and Japan in limiting the yearly kills had resulted in a renewal of the sea! colonics.