WHALERS IN ANTARCTIC

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 April 1939, Page 9

WHALERS IN ANTARCTIC

HUGE CATCH FOR SEASON SYDNEY, March 21. Officers of the Japanese whaling ships, headed by the factory ship To-, nan Maru No. 2, which arrived at Fre-! mantle this week, said that three catchers had been abandoned in the Antarctic, and they feared that the boats would be crushed to pieces by the ice. They said that the catchers, which operated from the factory ship Nisshin Maru No. 2, were sheltering in a bay about 50 degrees south on about the 140th meridian east, when the mouth of the bay closed upon them, and they were unable to force a way' through the ice. For several days they tried to break through, and then the crews walked four or five miles across the ice to. be picked up by another catcher, which was standing by to help them. The Japanese have not enjoyed a good whaling season. They blame mainly the continuous bad weather They were hampered almo.l through

out the season by high winds or fogs.., Officers also said that there were too - many whalers operating in the Antarc- * tic. This season there were 33 fleets... Japan operated six fleets. The total Japanese catch with six factory ships was about 533,100 barrels from idfleets, compared with Norway’s. 700,500 barrels from seven but-y one of Japan’s six factory ships are big modern vessels. ; The total catch in the Antarctica from pelagic whaling expeditions in-? 1938-39 is approximately 2,652,710 bar?. A rels (about 442,120 tons). At an avei‘i age price of £l4 a ton, this would re-" ■turn £6,189,680, and would probably—i represent about 40,000 whales. These ” figures do not take account of j al stations operating in the Antarc--tic, notably in South Georgia. . "