Emptying the Oceans: A Summary of Industrial Whaling Catches in the 20th Century ROBERT C. ROCHA, Jr., PHILLIP J. CLAPHAM, and YULIA V. IVASHCHENKO “Some of the larger factory vessels with their capacity of over 2,500 barrels of oil per day capture more in two days than the original fl oating factories of 1904 were able to carry away with them in an entire season. One modern factory ship can take more whales in one season than the entire American whaling fl eet of 1846 which number over 700 vessels.” Lt (j.g.) Quentin R. Walsh, U.S.C.G., 1938 Introduction ern whaling—at least in the Northern 8 whales per year during the 20-year Hemisphere—was well under way. operation of this factory (Lillie, 1915; In the 1860’s, the Norwegian whaler Sixteen shore whaling stations had Allison, 2012). and sealer Svend Føyn introduced the been established in Norway by 1883 The fi rst shore factory in the steam-powered whale catcher and the (Risting, 1922; Dickinson and Sanger, Southern Ocean was established in exploding harpoon gun to the whal- 2005), and others were in operation in Grytviken (Cauldron Bay) on South ing industry (Tønnessen and John- Newfoundland, Greenland, Russia, and Georgia Island by the Norwegian sen, 1982). In the 1870’s, he improved Japan. In 1903, another Norwegian, Carl Anton Larsen, from the Compa- upon shore-based factory processing Christen Christensen, introduced the ñía Argentina de Pesca, in late 1904 to a level that came to be considered fi rst factory ship, the wooden steam- (Tønnessen and Johnsen, 1982). a standard for the industry (Tønnessen ship Telegraf, into the waters off In 1903, one humpback whale was and Johnsen, 1982). By the time the Spitsbergen (Tønnessen and Johnsen, killed by modern methods by Adolf 20th century began, the era of mod- 1982). Their primary targets were blue, Andresen in the Straits of Magellan, Balaenoptera musculus; fi n, B. physa- but his processing station was not es- lus; and humpback whales, Megaptera tablished until 1905 (Tønnessen and novaeangliae. Johnsen, 1982). Robert C. Rocha, Jr., is with the New Bedford However, industrial whaling south Thus, between 1900 and 1908, Whaling Museum, 18 Johnny Cake Hill, New of the equator did not begin to re- more whales were captured by indus- Bedford, MA, 02740 (rrocha@whalingmuseum. semble operations in the north until 5 trial whaling methods in the Northern org). Phillip J. Clapham is with the National Marine Mammal Laboratory, Alaska Fisheries years into the 20th century. Between Hemisphere. By 1909, however, whal- Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Ser- 1900 and 1903, the only whales pro- ing south of the equator had surpassed vice, NOAA, 7600 Sand Point Way, NE, Seattle, WA 98115, and Yulia Ivashchenko is with the cessed industrially were humpbacks that in the north. This trend continued National Marine Mammal Laboratory and also caught via net and brought to a shore until 1993, when the catch of whal- with Southern Cross University, Military Road, factory in Whangamumu Bay in New ing operations became comparable East Lismore NSW 2480, Australia. Zealand, a factory that had been estab- in the two hemispheres and were fo- doi: dx.doi.org/10.7755/MFR.76.4.3 lished in 1890. The average catch was cused largely on minke whales, Balae- ABSTRACT—Late 19th century tech- 276,442 were killed in the North Atlantic, and hunted to take its place. In addition to nological advances for capturing whales, 563,696 in the North Pacifi c, and 2,053,956 reported catches, it is now known that the when combined with the expansion of pro- in the Southern Hemisphere. USSR conducted illegal whaling for more cessing capabilities in the early 20th cen- The years 1925–39 in the Southern Hemi- than 30 years. The true Soviet catch totals tury, created an industry that could catch sphere and 1946–75 in both hemispheres for the Southern Hemisphere were corrected and quickly render virtually any whale in saw the highest totals of whales killed. For some years ago, and a more recent assess- any ocean. Here, using the current Interna- the entire 20th century, the largest catch- ment of the actual number of whales killed tional Whaling Commission (IWC) database es were of fi n, Balaenoptera physalus, and by Soviet factory fl eet ships in the North Pa- and other sources, we provide the fi rst ac- sperm whales, Physeter macrocephalus, cifi c between 1948 and 1979 has provided us counting of the total global catch by indus- with 874,068 and 761,523 taken, respec- with more accurate numbers with which to trial whaling operations in the 20th century. tively; these comprised more than half the calculate the overall global catch. The esti- In sum, we estimate that nearly 2.9 million total of all large whales taken. mate for the total global catch by the USSR large whales were killed and processed As noted in other publications, when one is 534,204 whales, of which 178,811 were during the period 1900–99. Of this total, species began to decline, another was sought not reported to the IWC. 76(4) 37 noptera acutorostrata, and Antarctic nessen and Johnson, 1982) and served and the USSR, however, continued to minkes, B. bonaerensis. as the fi rst measure of protection for meet their quotas. While some of this Until World War I, industrial whal- bowhead whales, Balaena mystice- was due to having more numerous and ing in the Southern Hemisphere fo- tus; right whales, Eubalaena spp.; and more powerful whale catchers, it was cused primarily on humpbacks. After gray whales, Eschrichtius robustus; all also because much of the whaling was this, several participating countries of which had been heavily exploited being conducted illegally. (England, Denmark, Norway, Japan, historically. The Japanese were catching many Canada, and the United States in the Subsequently, the International undersized whales in their coastal fi sh- Northern Hemisphere and South Af- Agreement for the Regulation of ery and falsifying their reports in or- rica, England, Chile, Norway, and Ar- Whaling was signed in London in der to conform to IWC regulations gentina in the Southern Hemisphere) 1937. However, many parts of this (Kasuya, 1999; Kasuya and Brownell, took full advantage of the previously measure were ignored. After World 1999, 2001; Kondo and Kasuya, unexploited stocks of large rorquals War II, in late 1945, the United States 2002). Similarly, the USSR is now (Allison, 2012). These species had not hosted 19 countries at the Internation- known to have conducted large-scale (with the exception of humpbacks) al Whaling Conference (Tønnessen illegal catches for more than three de- been available to the traditional Yan- and Johnson, 1982). Ultimately, this cades (Yablokov, 1994; Clapham and kee whalers, whose small wooden led in 1946 to the creation of the Inter- Ivashchenko, 2009; Ivashchenko et boats could not be rowed fast enough national Convention for the Regulation al., 2013; Ivashchenko and Clapham, to catch these whales. of Whaling (ICRW) and the governing 2014). On a much smaller scale, be- The ability of a modern catcher body for this Convention, the Inter- tween 1951 and 1956 a factory ship boat to fi re exploding harpoons and national Whaling Commission (IWC) registered in Panama, the Olympic inject air into these fast-swimming (IWC, 2002). Challenger, owned by Aristotle Onas- whales (that would have otherwise Conservation measures were clearly sis’ Olympic Whaling Company, was sunk when they were killed) removed an important part of this document, al- consistently “shooting anything that any advantage a whale might have had though protection of whales was un- swam and at any time” (Elliot, 1997). over a whaling ship. Modern whalers dertaken for the strictly commercial By 1972, more protective attitudes also found new populations of sperm purpose of attempting to ensure that in the United States toward whaling whales, Physeter macrocephalus, the industry remained sustainable. As had suffi ciently infl uenced nation- to hunt and also took southern right the Convention worded it, the aim was al politics such that both the Marine whales, Eubalaena australis, when “to provide for the proper conservation Mammal Protection Act and the En- they were encountered. of whale stocks and thus make pos- dangered Species Act were passed Between the 1920’s and the 1980’s, sible the orderly development of the within a span of 14 months. In 1972, industrial whaling went through peri- whaling industry.” the United Nations Conference on the ods of expansion and crisis. As with Industrial whaling resumed in ro- Human Environment, held in Stock- many industries, these fl uctuations led bust fashion in the 1950’s, with Nor- holm, Sweden, passed a resolution, to international efforts to regulate the way, Great Britain, Japan, and the by 52 votes to 0, calling for a 10-year use of the primary resource, with vary- USSR hunting in both hemispheres. moratorium on commercial whaling. ing but usually unsuccessful effect. In the Northern Hemisphere, Canada, Similar resolutions were introduced In the late 1920’s, members of Denmark, Iceland, Spain, Portugal, in the IWC in 1972, 1973, and 1974, the League of Nations declared that Korea, and China were hunting whales but the proposal did not receive the whales needed “urgent international commercially. In the Southern Hemi- required three-fourths majority (IWC, measures” to protect them from ex- sphere, whaling operations were regis- 1975). Nonetheless, by 1982, pro- tinction and thus set up a committee tered to Brazil, France, South Africa, conservation nations held a substantial of experts to fi nd a solution (Redekop, Australia, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, majority at the IWC, and duly voted 2010).