WHALING IN ANTARCTICA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19737, 5 January 1927, Page 6

WHALING IN ANTARCTICA

In an article on the 1926-27 whaling season, “Norway,” a Norwegian trade magazine, gives interesting information. It states that a larger whaling fleet than ever has left Europe this year for the Antarctic hunting grounds. In the zone of South Georgia three Norwegian companies will be working, two operating from a stationary factory and one from a floating factory, using between them eleven whale-boats and 740 men. Two British companies employing 530 men and one Argentinian company employing 200 men will also be operating in this zone. In the South Shetland zone six Norwegian companies and two British companies, employing 1100 and 450 men respectively, will be hunting oil. In the South Orkneys two Norwegian companies will have 360 men at work, and in the Ross' Sea two Norwegian companies will operate from three factories with 14 whale-boats and 560 men.

The magnitude of the whaling industry in the Antarctic is indicated by the figures given. Altogether the whalers this season are employing six stationary factories, seventeen floating factories, 79 whale-boats, and about 4000 men. According to “Norway,” the industry is mainly Norwegian, for both British and Argentine ships employ Norwegian seamen and whalers. It certainly seems strange that a large fleet of ships should bring so many men all the way from Norway to the Antarctic. No doubt the Norwegians are pre-eminent in the pursuit of the whale and the work of commercialising it, but the British claim to be maritime people, and New Ze'aland with its sea-girt coast should be able to train good whalers.

It is suggested in the Christchurch “Press,” to which we are indebted for a summary of the “Norway” article, that New Zealand should take a keener interest than it does in the whale industry. It is a large and Very profitable industry, making good returns for its shareholders. New Zealand lies at the very threshold of the whaling grounds, and the Rogs Sea, in which two Norwegian companies are operating, is included within the boundaries of the Dominion. Since it is worth while for Norwegian companies to send their men right across the world tp seek whale-oil, it would surely pay the Dominion to exploit its own resources. A substantial export of whale-oil would certainly help New Zealand to keep the balance of trade on the right side.