Battle For Whales At Norfolk

Wanganui Chronicle, 14 December 1949, Page 7

Battle For Whales At Norfolk

BLENHEIM, Dec. 12—Its first three months’ operations at Norfolk Island netted the New Zealand Whaling Company a total of six whales, and under the circumstances that is regarded as quite a satisfactory start. According to Mr. W. Toms, one of the two Picton men in the party of 13 who have been engaged at the island, the main objective was to investigate the locality and the conditions and to discover whether captures could be brought in to the shore works at Ball Bay. There is no dearth of whales in those waters, Norfolk Island being athwart one of the humpbacks' main migratory routes from the South Pole. The difficulty lies in the fact that terrific southerly seas frequently pound the rugged coastline, curtailing activities or calling for expert seamanship. Even in moderate weat her the'Norfolk whaler has usually to take a "dusting" from the Tasman rollers, which rarely cease their beat. Just how tough a job it is is shown by the fact that over 15 carcasses handed over by the 33-year-old ex-Tory Channel veteran chaser Cachalot to a mother ship were lost, having to be turned adrift when deteriorating conditions made it impossible to tow ■ them in.

In spite of this loss, however, the company has decided definitely to continue its operations next season. It has been stated that more whales are seen from Norfolk in a day than are spotted by the Cook Strait look-out in a month. With the experience it has gained during an arduous initial season, the company is confident that there will be many more barrels of oil next year. Mr. Toms, who has just returned home, found lite extremely pleasant in the island’s sub-tropical cimate. Norfolk, he said, was being popular as a holiday resort, and from 12 to 16 New Zealanders arrived by plane each week.