This is the reported wholesale value in Japan. Whaling is in the news again. The International Whaling Commission meets in Portugal on the 22nd June. Murray McCully has just announced a joint Australia/New Zealand research expedition to the Antarctic this southern winter. Unlike the Japanese approach, no whales will be killed as part of the research process.
Meanwhile, back in NZ, six ex. whalers are helping whale research. Using the lookout points of an old whaling station in the Torry Channel they are recording whale species and numbers as they pass through on their northern migration.
One of them is a sixty three year old, Joe Haberley. He is familiar with our area because his dad, Charlie, ran the whaling station on Gt. Barrier between 1959 and 1963.
Whaling has a long history in NZ. Whalers and sealers quickly followed along after Captain Cook. In the peak year of 1839 there were around 200 whaling vessels in NZ waters with an estimate of 1000 whales being taken. The oil extracted from the whale blubber was the valued product. Oil was not available from petroleum at this stage. The oil was used to lubricate heavy machinery and even precision timepieces. The fashion industry had a part to play. The baleen whales, like the sperm whale, contributed very flexible bones for use in the corsetry trade. At one time these bones had four times the value of the oil, weight for weight. The whaling industry worked it's way through the whale species. By the time Gt Barrier whaling started the numbers of sperm whale and southern right whale were much diminished. The right whale was reduced to an estimated population of approx. 25 breeding females by 1925. The peak population of this species in the Southern Ocean had been in the 20 000 to 30 000 range.
In 1960 there was still some life left in local whaling. Two observation posts identified whales at sea and directed fast chase boats to their locations. From Gt. Barrier it was possible to sea whales as far away as Cuvier Is. One hundred and four whales were taken that season, mostly humpbacks. They were processed on land at the Whangaparapara Harbour factory. 930 tonnes of oil was produced, plus a large quantity of chicken feed. Subsequent years produced much smaller catches. Only 8 whales were taken in 1962 and the factory did not reopen the following year. Carnage in the Antarctic meant that few whales found their way to our waters.
It was that same year that the I.W.C. placed a moratorium on the killing of humpback whales. No doubt the drama will continue to play out on the international stage. It is worth noting though, that, in 2000, there were 87 countries involved in whale watching ventures. The total world income was around U.S.$ 1billion! A kinder form of exploitation.
In Tuateawa we are seeing a few large whales. Rarely they are close inshore. It is more likely that you will see one spouting, some kilometres of the shore.
Some of this information came from: Last of the Whalers. Charlie Haberley's Story, by Heather Haberley, the wife of whale watcher Joe. Published in 2002 by Cape Catley Ltd ISBN 0-908561-90-3. Chapter 10 deals with whaling from Gt. Barrier.
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