Catch Records of the Twenty North Pacific Right Whales from Two Alaska Whaling Stations, 1917-39
The North Pacific right whale population was hunted commercially between 1835 and 1935, at which time the species received protection. Commercial whalers harvested over 15,000 North Pacific right whales during this period, so reducing the population that today there are an estimated 100-200 right wh...
Published in: | ARCTIC |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
The Arctic Institute of North America
1986
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65096 |
id |
ftunivcalgaryojs:oai:journalhosting.ucalgary.ca:article/65096 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftunivcalgaryojs:oai:journalhosting.ucalgary.ca:article/65096 2023-05-15T14:19:14+02:00 Catch Records of the Twenty North Pacific Right Whales from Two Alaska Whaling Stations, 1917-39 Brueggeman, J.J. Newby, T. Grotefendt, R.A. 1986-01-01 application/pdf https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65096 eng eng The Arctic Institute of North America https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65096/49010 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65096 ARCTIC; Vol. 39 No. 1 (1986): March: 1–107; 43-46 1923-1245 0004-0843 Animal distribution Whales Alaska Gulf of Bering Sea info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion research-article 1986 ftunivcalgaryojs 2022-03-22T21:22:12Z The North Pacific right whale population was hunted commercially between 1835 and 1935, at which time the species received protection. Commercial whalers harvested over 15,000 North Pacific right whales during this period, so reducing the population that today there are an estimated 100-200 right whales in the North Pacific. The American Pacific Whaling Company operated in the Gulf of Alaska and eastern Bering Sea during 1917-39. We report the distribution, sexes, and lengths of 20 right whales recorded in the company logbooks and ledgers. These records identify that right whale catches were widely distributed on the whaling grounds and tended to decrease over the May-October whaling season. Of the 17 whales for which sex and length data were documented, 11 were females. Their average length exceeded that of males. Lengths of the whales indicated that 41 percent of the catch were sexually mature; two females carried fetuses. Although the sample size is small, these results suggest that the North Pacific right whale population was inhabiting its historic summering grounds after the period of heavy exploitation in the 1800s, reproducing as late as 1926, and supporting a subadult cohort at least until the species was protected.Key words: right whale, North Pacific Ocean, Alaska, Distribution Mots clés: baleine noire, nord de l'océan Pacifique, Alaska, distribution Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Bering Sea North Pacific right whale Alaska University of Calgary Journal Hosting Baleine ENVELOPE(140.012,140.012,-66.649,-66.649) Bering Sea Gulf of Alaska Noire ENVELOPE(140.019,140.019,-66.666,-66.666) Pacific ARCTIC 39 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Calgary Journal Hosting |
op_collection_id |
ftunivcalgaryojs |
language |
English |
topic |
Animal distribution Whales Alaska Gulf of Bering Sea |
spellingShingle |
Animal distribution Whales Alaska Gulf of Bering Sea Brueggeman, J.J. Newby, T. Grotefendt, R.A. Catch Records of the Twenty North Pacific Right Whales from Two Alaska Whaling Stations, 1917-39 |
topic_facet |
Animal distribution Whales Alaska Gulf of Bering Sea |
description |
The North Pacific right whale population was hunted commercially between 1835 and 1935, at which time the species received protection. Commercial whalers harvested over 15,000 North Pacific right whales during this period, so reducing the population that today there are an estimated 100-200 right whales in the North Pacific. The American Pacific Whaling Company operated in the Gulf of Alaska and eastern Bering Sea during 1917-39. We report the distribution, sexes, and lengths of 20 right whales recorded in the company logbooks and ledgers. These records identify that right whale catches were widely distributed on the whaling grounds and tended to decrease over the May-October whaling season. Of the 17 whales for which sex and length data were documented, 11 were females. Their average length exceeded that of males. Lengths of the whales indicated that 41 percent of the catch were sexually mature; two females carried fetuses. Although the sample size is small, these results suggest that the North Pacific right whale population was inhabiting its historic summering grounds after the period of heavy exploitation in the 1800s, reproducing as late as 1926, and supporting a subadult cohort at least until the species was protected.Key words: right whale, North Pacific Ocean, Alaska, Distribution Mots clés: baleine noire, nord de l'océan Pacifique, Alaska, distribution |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Brueggeman, J.J. Newby, T. Grotefendt, R.A. |
author_facet |
Brueggeman, J.J. Newby, T. Grotefendt, R.A. |
author_sort |
Brueggeman, J.J. |
title |
Catch Records of the Twenty North Pacific Right Whales from Two Alaska Whaling Stations, 1917-39 |
title_short |
Catch Records of the Twenty North Pacific Right Whales from Two Alaska Whaling Stations, 1917-39 |
title_full |
Catch Records of the Twenty North Pacific Right Whales from Two Alaska Whaling Stations, 1917-39 |
title_fullStr |
Catch Records of the Twenty North Pacific Right Whales from Two Alaska Whaling Stations, 1917-39 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Catch Records of the Twenty North Pacific Right Whales from Two Alaska Whaling Stations, 1917-39 |
title_sort |
catch records of the twenty north pacific right whales from two alaska whaling stations, 1917-39 |
publisher |
The Arctic Institute of North America |
publishDate |
1986 |
url |
https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65096 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(140.012,140.012,-66.649,-66.649) ENVELOPE(140.019,140.019,-66.666,-66.666) |
geographic |
Baleine Bering Sea Gulf of Alaska Noire Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Baleine Bering Sea Gulf of Alaska Noire Pacific |
genre |
Arctic Bering Sea North Pacific right whale Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Bering Sea North Pacific right whale Alaska |
op_source |
ARCTIC; Vol. 39 No. 1 (1986): March: 1–107; 43-46 1923-1245 0004-0843 |
op_relation |
https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65096/49010 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65096 |
container_title |
ARCTIC |
container_volume |
39 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1766290862432583680 |