COASTAL WHALING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19803, 31 May 1926, Page 13

COASTAL WHALING.

INDUSTRY IN DOMINIONS. WHALE CHASING IN COOK STRAIT. Recently we have heard much of "big fishing” aa a pastime, but less publicly there is going on round our coasts as an industry, what may be termed “bigger fishing,” though it is really mammal hunt ing for the whale is not a fish (says the Auckland Star). Whaling was our first industry and the first primitive means ol advertising what is now a Dominion. The occupation has long passed its zenith, with its unenviable record of brawls and debauchery. vet to-day it is still pursued with both profit and excitement, close round out shores as well as in regions far south. Mr E C Perano, leader of a party from “Tar-White,” the base of the entrance that for 17 years has chased leviathans to Tory Channel, can tell many an interesting story of a business that is also a <port, for, as he naively puts it, if he were a wealthy man with no necessity to work he would still go whaling. Sword fishing apparently is quite an uninteresting past time when compared with the modern method of bringing ashore one ot tne monsters of the deep.

THE LEVIATHAN’S MOVEMENTS. According to Mr Perano there is a most remarkable regularity about the a rnya ot whales on the New Zealand coast. Within a day on either side of May 27 the first wha e ,s invariably sighted in Cook Strait, and invariably the creature is travelling from the south-east. None have ever been observed traversing the strait °P^ oSl be direction. By September 12 one can be cS that y the Lt has passed through and no more will be seen till the follow mg season. Mr Porano’s theory » tha. the whales, in their journey northward, make towards the east coast of New Zea iand. some going through the strait and others continuing up the coast, ihus tne whaling station, at W z' s = in daylight and m Strait, yet during wctch h e P t u l’°"J“ , anc j five hundred that period between , d Allowing of the cetaeceans are ® f a ’ darkne ss. it tor days of storm of these is sate to state that_o . g nd tbe ; r w3 y clumsy creatures V y into the Tasman. ” THE SToiv OF ME STATION. Norton, and the inotormus^ out f S r oars. ha Sevinteen SS aj-as launches 601 Cff d hands laughed the scheme Ridicule, but the innovation revived a L h were bagged. Next se son 11 were accounted lor, in the following one 21, and the occupation began to show a profit. Then the Cacholot. a launch capable of over 20 knots, •was requistioned from Auckland, and since that tune the average catch has been about 47. Originally the launch crew v ere five all told; now they are but two, and it is believed that nowhere else in the world is whaling carried on with but two men per boat. RIVALRY—AND THE “WHALE L VW.”

The demonstration of commercial possiblities brought rivals into the hunt, and to-day the whale falls to him who has the fastest boat. So one party has from year to vear vied with another in speedboat building, till quite a small fleet of chasers has grown up. Secrecy or construction has been a keynote of this competition, and Aucklanders themselves were aware of the latest ‘'4o-miler” that will be sent south next week before the dwellers in Oueen Charlotte Sound were. This craft will be the speediest that has ever pursued th" whale in southern waters, if not in the globe, and its owners are naturally elated at being “one up on their competitors for the season now opening. There is all the zest of the deep-sea fisherman about these modern whalers. Where rival parties pursue the same cachalot, the creature becomes the property of those who make fast the first harpoon. If the harpoon line carries away, and the opp ing chasers make st, the quarry becomes the “50-50” property of both parties. The mere bombing of the whale gives no right to possession—the harpoon alone is like the negs of the mining claim. Such is the custom, confirmed by decision of our own courts of law.

THE PURSUIT OF THE CACHALOT. On the cliffs above the entrance of Tory Channel is located the look-out. Here, by means of primitive yet ingenious and effective smoke signals he informs the little flotilla of the sighting and the location of whales. Away dash the high-speed boats, and the excitement of the chase and the race begins. At close quarters a gun-fired harpoon strikes, the whale sounds, and 250 fathoms of harpoon line begin to pay out. No more is needed, for the creature will “bottom” in the Straits ere he has taken all the line. Observing the direction, and the amount of line paid out, another boat of the flotilla chugs to the spot where the whale will rise, and then comes the most dangerous part of the chase. The captive must be wounded, but not killed, for a dead whale will sink. Close up comes the launch, wary of the thrashing flukes* and tail, and there is thrown a hand-bomb, with a long-wire electric detonator. Thus the quarry is wounded almost unto death, and into his side is fired a long perforated tube, with pneumatic hose attached. Immediately a small compressor on the boat comes into action, and, the mightiest inhabitant of the ocean suffers the indignity of being treated like a football —inflated. After about four minutes of pumping the death-dealing bombs are cast, and the airbuoyed carcase is taken in tow by one launch, while the hunt for the accompanying whale continues. The creatures usually travel in pairs, ami it is a peculiarity that where a bull and a cow are together, and the former is harpooned, the latter invariably makes off with all haste. The bull, however, will never desert his mate, and will rarely forsake another bull that has been caught. THE PRODUCT AND ITS MARKET. The carcase is towed alongside skids, hauled ashore, and stripped of. blubber. The trying-out stations are quite hives of industry in the height of the season, most of the work being done by Maoris. The average whale yields about six tons of oil, with a market value of about £2l a ton, so that one catch is worth over £IOO. One is naturally curious as to the uses of the product and the markets for it. Whale oil is a necessity in the manufacture of rope and twine, and in the preparation of leather, so much of the New Zealand products finds its way to our rope works and tanneries. Till recently Australia offered a good market for the balance, but nm. there is a tariff wall of £6 a ton against its importation there, and disposal has to be sought further afield. All engaged in the industry feel that our own Customs tariff inflicts an injustice on them, for under it Japanese whale oil, under the designation of “fish oil,” is allowed to come in duty free, whereas our own annua! production i--more than sufficient to supply all Dominion requirements. It is a sore point with local whalers that the representation of these facts to -.he powers that be, has, ns yet, brought no redress to an industry that deserves encouragement. Years of experience have shown that onr coastal whaling is not a vanishing occupation. The whales are as plentiful as in the past, and the large scale operations conducted in Antarctica have not affected the seasons here. The Antarctic whale generally captured is of a different typo to that taken in our own waters.