Antarctic baleen whales: history and prospects

• Published in: Polar Record
• Main Author: Gulland, J. A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1976
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; Ecology; Geography, Planning and Development; Antarctic; Antarc*; baleen whales; Polar Record
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247400028667; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247400028667

Whalers and sealers were the first people to visit the southern oceans in numbers, and in the 1930's Antarctic whaling accounted for some 12 per cent (by weight) of the total harvest of fish and other animals from the sea. It was the importance of the whaling industry and the need to know more about the physical and biological system on which it was based that was the justification for the classic work organized by the Discovery Committee between the wars. Since then whale catches have declined in absolute and relative terms, and public concern for the whale as the victim of an outstanding example of bad management of a large natural resource has increased.