ROSS SEA WHALING.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 5 October 1927, Page 4

ROSS SEA WHALING.

NOR WEGJANS’ OPERATIONS. ONE FACTORY UNLICENSED. The Norwegian whaling company wTucii opeiatea two floating lactones and teii wliaie.rs in the Ross Soa, under license from the Aew Zealand Go tern rnent. took 188 whales, producing 10.300 barrels of oil. According to the Marine Department, tl»2 past season as a whole, has been a profitable one for licensees, but the results of the two floating factories, taken se.paarte'y, show a good season for the C. A. Larsen and a. poor onei for the Sir Janies Clark Ross. The poorness of the season must root be taken aw an indication that whales were .scarce, as other factors, such as had weather, had ice conditions, etc., were, thr* cause of much working time beiivcr lost duiinjx the season. INT ER NATJON A L CONTRO L NEEDED. The Department calls attention .to the necessity of seeming international control over whale lisliing, an unlicensed floating factory having pursued whaling in the Ross dependency by carrying on operation outside the territorial waters or that dependency. The Norwegian floating factory, N. f. Nailson Alonso, of 9232 tons, with four whale catchers, operated m the Ross Sea this season. “This factory, using Hobart, Tasmania as a base,, ts reported to lmvo secured eibout oo,(JUO barrels of oi'., a fairly profitable result, which in all probability will induce others to follow. This unlicensed factory, with her whale catchers, wa.s seen, in the Rosw Sea by our official iepresentativi?, but as she apparently confined her whaling operations to areas beyond the territorial imits of the Ross’ dependency she could not be interfered with. It is reported that her method of dealing with whale ca-i----cases did not comply with the exacting conditions under which licensees required to work, and that when whales were plentiful the whales used by her were stripped of their blubber only, and the carcaau allowed to float away a very wastefu 1 . procedure—whereas our licensees are, under the terms of rhe lice rose issued bv this Department, required to utilise the whale carcases to their fullest possible extent, arid they are not allowed to discard thorn unless they have been so utilised. “In anticipation of such unlicensed operations, this Department, as far as existing legnslation permitted, made insulations "governing the wlialing industry in the Ross dependency, but as such can have application to territorial waters only, the unlicensed factory, which apparently did not enter territorial waters, was enabled to carry on its operations, without tmv restriction or interference. The attention ot the Imperial authorities lias been drawn to this, and it. is hoped that some action nrav be taken so as more effectively to control the capture of u hales in the. Ross dependency.'’

extinction of whales vnUN LIKELY.

A? for the possibility of destroying whales bv our fishing, the official sugoestion is that the extinction of wliajes in the. Ross Sea as a direct process by whalers is highly improbable, as the capture of whales would necessarily cease when they became insufficiently numerous to be hunted with piont, bu there would then remain a considerable number of whales to propagate thenspecies. The enormous' cost of a whal.'no- expedition such as visits the Ross Sea. and the loss involved m a poor season ate a very healthy check to overfishing.