LIMITED WHALING

Hokitika Guardian, 20 September 1932, Page 2

LIMITED WHALING

SIR, JAMES! CLARK ROSS. TO VISIT WELLINGTON. WELLINGTON, September 17: Oiily one whaling factory ship, the Sir James Clark Ross, will visit Wellington this season, because of the decision to limit the capture of whales during thei forthcoming year. The Sir James Chirk Ross is due at Wellington: about; the end of October to take in- Aviator a/id stores, and possibly bunkers. She will then proceed to the Stewart Island base to pick up Lor ■chasers, on route, for the whaling grounds. No labour wil’d be engaged in Nfew Zealand this trip, and the vessel will not call at Wellington on her return from the whaling grounds. In view of the disastrous consequences of the ovel’-production of whale oil in the 1930-31 season, when the record catch of 2,316,593 barrels was made by Norwegian whalers, it lias been decided to ’limit the production for the forthcoming; year to 1,931,734 barrels. This agreement will affect ull the Norwegian and foreign whaling companies operating in the Antarctic, with the exception of the Southern Whaling and Sealing Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Messrs Unilever, ' Ltd., and A/S Laboremus, which are not members of the association.

The bulk of the 1930-31 Catch- —about 1,517,81-5 barrels—wo» sold in advance at the good price of £25 per ton for the best quality, but the rest of the catch had a very umremurerative return, about £l2 per ton. The season ended prematurely, land although stocks were disposed of from time to time during the summer, it was decided not to .undertake any whaling operations in the following season. This meant that- the formidable equipment of the Norwegian companies—27 floating factories, 149 whale-catchers, 12 transport vessels, and three land stations —was compelled to lie idle throughout the summer.' This year the individual companies have, been allotted a quota biased on their production in tha previous working season, and on the loading capacity of the floating factories used. As an incentive to rational .utilisation of the, whales, it has been laid down that the quota be fixed both in barrels of oil and in “blue whales,” the proportion being estimated at 110 to 1. The participants have 1 - also bound themselves to defer operations until October 20, as it has been found that .the whales are smaller in , the early part of the year, and do not yield such a large quantity of oli.