Slaughter Of Whales

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 845, 13 December 1929, Page 8

Slaughter Of Whales

Huge Profits From Antarctic

WHALES are now fair game for all nations, without restriction upon the class of weapon used in their destruction. The airplane has now joined in the slaughter, and science is creating new methods daily. Whaling in these circumstances is profitable, as the report of the Norwegian Whaling Company will show. During last year just on £IOB,OOO clear profit was secured by this concern from its Ross Sea operations.

Competition this year has made the whalers keen. There are more ships in the Antarctic at the present time than ever before in history. The harpoon gun, pursuit by fast motor-boats and steam and motor-trawlers, information by radio of herd movements and airplane scouting, are combined in running the whale kill up to 30,000 carcases in a year. The last word in efficient slaughter is a harpoon which electrocutes the mammal as soon as the barb touches it. New Zealand has been made the base of most of the polar whaling expeditions. Ironically enough the New Zealand authorities harbour the mother factory-ships and their attendant chasers prior to their excursions South, while the people cannot forget the thousands of pounds which this Dominion is losing by the sacrifice, at a ridiculously small figure, of whaling licences. The report of the directors of the Norwegian company, only one of many concerns now operating, gives a slight idea of the extent to which this may be carried as a profitable business. During the past whaling season the company caught 1,255 blue, 39 fin-back and 16 knoll and sperm whales, netting in all something like 124,000 barrels of oil. This oil produced round about £3O a ton. SUBSTANTIAL DIVIDEND After provision had been made for the payment of taxes and for depreciation, the company showed a profit of just under £IOB,OOO. A dividend of 25 per cent., which is the maximum stipulated by the directors, was recommend |!, absorbing £97,222. After administration fees amounting to £7,083 had been paid, a balance of £5,144 was carried forward. Showing what it costs to run the expedition, the following chief items of expenditure are quoted: Coal, £20,590; fuel oil, £23,858; insurance, £34,812; requisites, £33,300; provisions, £16,647; wages, £111,369; upkeep, £54,742; fixed shipping dues, £12,133; licence and export duty, £13,646; depreciation, £138,889. Even in the face of this record, the

company is not satisfied with its operations. The directors report that through the conversion of the Sir James Clark Ross to oil fuel, and through seven of the chasers being oil burners they anticipate being able to carry on operations for a longer period than previously, this being highly desirable in view of the greatly increased competition that is likely to occur. “Negotiations are proceeding with the New Zealand Government in regard to export duty on whale oil,” they say. “We have informed the Government that owing to the strong competition from the Pelagic Whaling Company, which pays no duty, we are unwilling to pay duty on oil produced outside the territorial limit when whales are caught outside this limit.” In support of the belief expressed by scientists that the present indiscriminate killing of whales can end only in the early extermination of the industry, it is mentioned that the Antarctic floating factories are able to handle from six to eight large whales a day, and as many as 20 small ones. The whales chiefly caught are humpbacks, blue whales and finbacks, and more rarely sperm whales. METHODS OF PROTECTION At this rate of killing there seems little hope for the survival of the valuable mammals. The task of formulating an effective means for protecting the whales presents many difficult problems. To overcome some of these, a council for whale conservation has been formed among American scientists and endeavours are being made to co-operate with scientists in other countries with a view to restricting the indiscriminate operations of the whaling fleets. In this movement New Zealand, as part of the British Empire, will be vitally concerned, for this Dominion loses more than any country by the wholesale slaughter of the whales in the Antarctic. By their complete extinction New Zealand stands to lose even the modest fees now collected for licences.