Theodore J. Walker

“ We can only hope that man will learn to exploit whales in such a way as to take only the surplus and leave the main stock, creating thereby a perpetual resource. Man can best profit esthetically and scientifically by leaving the gray whale free of whaling as a control population. ”

“ There is real need to protect the gray whale for scientific studies. The principal problem in the study of populations of whales is to learn how large the population is and what are the various forces which limit its size. Such knowledge would make it possible for the industry to decide how many whales could be taken each season without reducing the population. The concept of taking only those whales which would overpopulate the habitat is an attractive one, and this would be in the long run, most profitable and stabilize both the whale population and the industry. ”

“ The gray whale, however, has no difficulty in this dangerous region, and in fact they negotiate the treacherous turbid channels of the lagoons, notwithstanding the strong tidal currents which flow through them. They have also been observed rolling in the surf in water barely deep enough to float them. Should stranding occur, they seem to realize that it is only momentary as another swell will come along to free them. For the other species, stranding produces fright and struggling which only exhaust them and lodge them deeper into the bottom. ”

“ The whaling season is extremely short and as soon as the yearly quota has been reached, all countries must stop. Naturally every country tries to get as many whales of the total as possible. Once a whale is killed, it is hauled alongside, and the body cavity is inflated with compressed air to make the whale buoyant. It should be remembered that the whales which are now being processed are the “wrong” whales and they would otherwise sink. The whale is then flagged, lighted, and a radio transmitter secured to it, and it is cast adrift while the killer boat continues to search for more victims. ”

“ Life expectancy is another very useful statistic for population studies. The whaling industry has no easy way of finding this out because whaling never gives an individual whale the chance to attain old age. Perhaps we can eventually determine life expectancy for the gray whale if it can continue to be protected from whaling. By counting the number of babies produced each year, and knowing the life expectancy, We might indirectly obtain the number of whales which die before they have realized their life expectancy. This number should represent the surplus on which whaling could be based. ”

“ Perhaps the most critical moment in the life of the whale is birth, because the newborn whale must surface immediately or suffocate. Any abnormality in the birth process or weakness on the part of the infant may cause its loss. ”

“ Although a whale can be sighted by the telltale spout, a frightened whale may elude detection by exhaling just before surfacing, so that nothing more than a foamy patch is produced. Under these situations the whale does not expose the usual amount of buoyant head, but only the nostrils. A disturbed whale can dive, and then surface a mile or two away, or it may not move at all, preferring to hide on the bottom or among rocky reefs or in the kelp. The California gray whale was judged by whalers to be the most wary and elusive of them all. ”

“ It would appear that the American interests, limited to two small shore stations at San Francisco, must be content to secure those whales which will escape the efficient Russian and Japanese fleets which could, at the most opportune moment, secure the species before the beginning of the long migration. At any rate, the species can only serve as an extra species in areas where whaling is already marginal because of limited stocks. It is hoped that eventually the whaling interest will remove the gray whale from whaling, leaving it as a living memorial to whaling. ”

“ It is uncanny that the various species all manifest the instinctive reaction to vacate this region at the proper time, thus avoiding almost certain death by the freezing of the sea’s surface. Again the seeming miracle of aptness is evident, for the whales swim unerringly out of the dangerous areas toward warmer and calmer seas. ”

“ Although all the large whales make such extensive travels, except the bowhead, only the gray whale spends so much time in sight of land. The other species are truly oceanic at all times, and never seem abundant because of the vastness of the oceans. Like the gray whale they congregate in polar seas during the summer months, moving into temperate and subtropical waters for the winter months. To this day, much of the migration route is unknown. Perhaps some day a scientist will attempt to trail a group of whales along the entire route. ”

“ Strandings of the other species do occur, which can be interpreted to mean that these whales are not afraid of shallow water. However, when they strand they die. The cause of stranding is difficult to determine. Perhaps the victim is sick and drifts ashore. Most strandings occur during severe storms which quickly obscure the bottom features by stirring up the sand and mud. The stranding of the pilot whale is most dramatic because entire groups will come ashore as if afraid to go back to sea. If man intercedes and helps free them, they still refuse to escape. ”

“ Today, Eskimos use harpoon guns and sturdy wooden whale boats. However, the entire village still turns out to drag a whale ashore. Each village kills only what it requires for food and oil through the long arctic winter. They hunt the arctic bowhead whale, although the smaller white whale (beluga) is also hunted. The bowhead has never recovered from commercial whaling, even though it has been protected for years by the International Whaling Commission. The regulations however, do not apply to the aborigines, but their needs should not have prevented the whales from becoming plentiful again. ”

“ Filtering whales, unlike the gregarious porpoises and dolphins, seldom school. Even when they appear to be abundant in a limited area, they have congregated for feeding and not for social interaction. Toothed cetaceans, on the other hand, are generally sociable. The sperm whale travels in large groups of females dominated by a single bull whale. The other males have been driven away and the victorious male exercises control of the harem only as long as he wins these contests. Once the dominant male is defeated, he becomes a solitary individual. ”

“ The ratio of marked whales to unmarked whales allows the estimation of the probable size of the whale population. The length of time elapsing until a marked whale is recovered is an indication of the intensity of whaling.
Unlike the situation in the fishing industry where the reproductive potential of the fish is more than adequate to repopulate quickly, in the whaling industry the reproductive potential is small. Only one-fourth of the population can contribute replacements each year, and then only a single baby. ”

“ Whalers must process the whales quickly, for otherwise, at the elevated body temperature, decomposition proceeds most rapidly and ruins much of the meat. It is possible that the baleen-bearing whales do not cross the warm equatorial waters because they overheat. No one has yet determined whether the newborn young have a sufficient layer of fat to protect them from the cold water, and it has been suggested that whales calve in temperate waters to prevent the babies from being chilled. However, there are species like the narwhal and the white whale which calve in Arctic waters. ”

“ The killer whale, however, has the size and inclination. Generally, it is content to capture seals, sea birds, and fishes, and it does not range too far from this prey. There have been isolated reports of killer whales attacking the gray whale. The gray whale is described as being very disturbed whenever a killer whale appears. On the coast of Siberia the gray whale will hide in very shallow water and if cornered is said to go into shock, floating at the surface, stomach up, while the killer whale bites at the tongue and flippers. ”

“ Yet these surpluses must somehow usually be eliminated lest the species overpopulate its habitat and destroy its own sustenance. The controls which limit the population are many and the population existing from year to year is the statistical average of these many controls. Diseases, predators, and other adversities are necessary evils, which are in the final analysis blessings in disguise. Whales, too, have their checks, although we are a long way from knowing their relative importance. ”

“ The beaked whales complete the groups specialized for feeding on squid. Besides the modification of the mouth, all these whales are noted for their ability to dive to great depths where their food abounds. Not only can they dive to great depths, but they can stay submerged for long periods—up to an hour? Sperm whales have been found entangled in the submarine cables which were known to be on the bottom at a depth of 3,000 feet. It is clear that such feeding habits have opened up vast areas of the oceans to these species. ”

“ It has been calculated that a blue whale baby grows about 10 pounds per hour, gaining a ton every 9 days.
Although there are at least nine species of filtering whales, each seems to be dependent on a different kind of shrimp which are seldom found together. This prevents the various species of whales from being in constant competition with each other. However, no one altogether understands why there is no competition. Of course, structurally a species may be more suited to feeding on one kind of food. ”

“ At birth the baby is completely formed and active, but lacking baleen, must nurse. A blue whale baby at birth weighs approximately 8 tons, about 1/12th of the weight of the mother. The mother provides the baby with 50 gallons of milk a day. Since the nursing is done under water, and the baby must surface frequently to breathe, the act of nursing is very brief. Muscles in the breasts of the mother force the milk into the baby’s mouth in large amounts. The baby will double its length in 7 months, which averages to a daily weight gain of 220 pounds. ”

“ For over five centuries whales have been under attack by professional hunters, and long before that by the aboriginal peoples of many lands. The reason whales have withstood this hunting pressure better than land animals is due to the fact that their ocean habitat has not been invaded by man for agriculture, and in the days of sailing ships and hand harpooning, the whale was a formidable prey, far more so than in our present day of motorization and automation. ”

“ The decline in the number of teeth in the sperm and bottlenose whales is thought to be the elimination of structures which are no longer useful. Whereas a porpoise’s long mouth, bristling with sharp teeth, insures the hooking and retention of a slippery active fish, a small mouth with a few teeth is adequate to crush and slurp down the squid and the weak-swimming fishes of the abyssal depths. ”

“ The whale has made such efficient use of its summer feeding period that it is fat enough to live the other 8 months without danger of starvation. Whales might be thought of as huge natural tankers carrying enough oil to provide for long periods of active fasting. Unlike those mammals which avoid starvation by winter hibernation, the whale is able to migrate away from inhospitable seas into warmer waters where they can then reproduce and care for the new young. The strain on the mother at this time must be considerable for her baby grows at a prodigious rate. ”