Whales

Authors: Whitten LK
Publication: New Zealand Veterinary Journal, Volume 27, Issue 9, pp 175, Sep 1979
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Animal type: Aquatic animal, General, Sea mammal, Wildlife
Subject Terms: Farm/farm management, International, Population data, Veterinary profession
Article class: General Article

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Abstract: Almost every chapter in the history of whaling has the same sad ending-one of over-exploitation in which a species has been hunted almost to extinction. Before the mid-seventeenth century, it was recorded that the Bowhead whale was not as common as it had been. The same pattern was seen with the Northern Right and the Southern Right whales and the Californian Grey whale. In more recent years, the same slaughter for short-term profit has seen the mighty Blue whale and the Humpback reduced to a few percent of their former numbers. Then the Fin and Sei whales suffered from the diversion of catcher pressure from the other formerly abundant species. The sperm whales have been hunted over a longer period but seem to have withstood the onslaught better than the baleen whales…

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