COASTAL WHALING

Southland Times, Issue 19899, 18 June 1926, Page 3

COASTAL WHALING

MODERN METHODS IN N.Z. AN OCCUPATION AND A SPORT. WHALE CILASING IN COOK STRAIT. Recently we have heard much of “big fishing” as 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 hunting, for the whale Is not a fish, says the Auckland Star. Whaling was our first industry and the first primitive means of advertising what is now a Dominion. The occupation has long passed its zenith, with its unenviable record of brawls and debauchery, yet to-day it is still pursued, with both profit and excitement, close round our shores as well as in regions far south. Mr E. C. Perano, leader of a party that for 17 years has chased leviathans from “Tar-White,” the base at the entrance to Tory Channel, can tell many an interesting story of a business that is also a sport, 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 pastime when compared with the modern method of bringing ashore one of the monsters of the deep. THE LEVIATHAN’S MOVEMENTS. According to Mr Perano there is a most remarkable regularity about the arrival of whales on the New Zealand coast. Within a day on either side of May 27 the first whale is invariably sighted in Cook Strait, and invariably the creature is travelling from the south-east. None have ever been observed traversing the Strait in the opposite direction. By September 12 one can be certain that the last has passed through, and no more will be seen till the following season. Mr Perano’s theory is that the whales, in their journey northward, make towards the east coast/ of New Zealand, some going through the Strait and others continuing up the coast. On the return journey they go south along the east coast. Thus the whaling station at Whangamumu has two periods of activity, while the Tory Channel base has but one. From years of observation those engaged in the chase can form a fair estimate of the numbers that pass along our shores, and their figures are certainly astounding to the mere layman. Only in daylight and in fine weather is a “whale watch” kept upon Cook Strait, yet during that period four and five hundred

of the cetaeceans are observed. Allowing for days of storms and hours of darkness, it is safe to state that over a thousand of these clumsy creatures annually find their way between our two islands into the Tasman. THE STORY OF THE STATION. Te Awhaiti’s story goes back to our earliest recorded days, and with it are associated such historic names as Jackson, Norton, and the notorious “Bully Hayes.” For over a century the whale boat put out regularly from Tory Channel, and stout backs bent to the oars. Seventeen years ago came the change; the Perano party decided to enter the chase with launches. Old hands laughed the scheme to ridicule, but the innovation revived a languishing industry, and, where once the catch was but two or three per season, it Is often more than that number per May. In the first year only seven whales were bagged. Next season eleven were accounted for, in the following one twenty-one, and the occupation began to show a profit. Then the Cachalot, a launch capable of over 20 knots, was requisitioned from Auckland, and since that time the average catch has been about 47. Originally the launch crew were 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 LAW.” The demonstrations of commercial possibilities 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 year vied with another in speed-boat building, till quite a small fleet of chasers has grown up. Secrecy of construction has been a keynote of this competition, and Aucklanders themselves were aware of the latest “forty-miler” that will be sent south next week before the dwellers in Queen Charlotte Sound were. This craft will be the speediest that has ever pursued the 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 opposing chasers make, fast, the quarry becomes the “fifty-fifty” property of both parties. The mere bombing' of the whale gives no right to possession—the harpoon alone is like the pegs 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 longwire 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 air-buoyed carcase is taken in tow by on launch, while the hunt for the accompanying whale continues. The creatures usually travel in pairs, and 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 £lOO. 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 now 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 annual production is more than sufficient to supply all Dominion requirements. It is a sore point with local whalers that the representation of these facts to the powers that be has, as yet, brought no redress to an industry that deserves encouragement. Years of experience have shown that our 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 type to that taken in our own waters.