WHALING INDUSTRY IN SOUTH

Hokitika Guardian, 15 July 1931, Page 5

WHALING INDUSTRY IN SOUTH

REGULATION NEEDED. RESULTS OF DISCOVERY H RESEARCH, LONDON, June 2. The object of the voyage oi the Discoiery ii., whuff retmiicU to England yesterday, was to secure permanence L,r tne unal.ng industry in the south. J ius has invoLed widespread research. tiie main object of the Discovery II jaijd, her consort, the William Stdresby, jispto c nipare one area with another and one season with another to try to find, by means of hydrological and biological researches, the reasons for the concentration of whales in certain parts of the Antarctic and to explain their movements and the occurrence of good and had whaling years. To that end the Discovery II has taken a long series of observations throughout two - Antarctic summers and over the whole of the South Georgia whaling grounds. Thousands of hauls have been made at all depths with nets used for biological work and thousands of temperatures and water samples liavo been taken.

VALUABLE RESULTS. Operations have been carried out even in winds approaching a full gale mm analysis of all water samples nml a large part of the biological collections has been carried out ip the specially fitted laboratories on boat’d. The two seasons spent by the Discovery II in the south have differed very'widely, for in 1929-30 the edge cf the pack-ice was unusually far south, while the 1930-31 heavy pack extended markedly northwards. This has added greatly to the value of the results, -as close comparison has thus been possible between two years of widely different conditions. Antarctic navigation, one need hardly say. is a hazardous affair, and the work of the Discovery II lias the supreme value of making for its greater safety by correction of existing charts, often found defective.

POLAR SEAS CHARTED.' The Discovery II has surveyed many areas, including most notably the South Sandwich Islands which had not been surveyed since Captain Cook and Admiral von Bellinghausen explored them 1.00 years ago. Running surveys have also been made of Bouvet Islands the South Shetland*, and the South Orkneys. This work of charting Antarctic seas lias been very effectively carried out by the Admiralty pattern echo-sounding apparatus carried by the ship.

The set-back to the whaling industry glue to over-production makes this report of first-rate importance'; but the set-lnuk ought only to be temporary and will probably be effectively met by drastic reduction of whaling next season .

BREATHING SPACE FOR WHALES

It has been feared for some time that southern whaling operations would so greatly reduce the stock- of whales that the industry would die out. It is consoling to learn that these difficulies have preceded permanent collapse due to depletion of the stock,- which, if the imense expansion of recent years continued, was anticipated alike by whaling and scientific opinion, The temporary but great reduction of whaling will afford a much-needed breathing space to the stock; and, if this is widely used for the development of well-based regulations, it should lend to the renewa of the indusry on a scale which will ensure its permanence.