Antarctica
“Dem bones, dem bones.” The child-like song ran through my mind as we walked near, around, and over scattered whale bones at Jougla Point across from Port Lockroy here in Antarctica. Craniums and mandibles from several different species of great whale mixed with the ribs and vertebrae of several others. Here a scapula, there a radius, everywhere a phalange. A veritable smorgasbord of whale bones piled in a careless heap or scattered along the coastline attest to a time and place so different than the one we choose to live in today.
It was not so long ago, within the span of our own memory for many of us, that these magnificent creatures were hunted and slaughtered by the thousands, tens of thousands, and even hundreds of thousands here in the Southern Ocean. Whalers mistakenly thought that there were so many of the huge leviathans that they couldn’t possibly fish them all out. History has proven them wrong as first humpback, then blue, fin, and finally sperm whales became so scarce it wasn’t economically viable to hunt for them here any longer.
There were perhaps as many as 300,000 blue whales killed in these waters between 1919 and 1966, when a moratorium was finally placed on the slaughter. Fin whales suffered even greater losses in the 20th century here, with as many as 700,000 individual whales being hunted and killed. Over 115,000 sperm whales met their end at the hand of whalers in that timeframe in the rich Southern Ocean. In total perhaps 1.4 million whales were culled from this area for meat, oil, and bone meal. A total of over 71 MILLION tons of whales killed, processed, and shipped north in the 1900’s from whale stations such as this one at Port Lockroy.
Can these whale populations make a comeback here in Antarctica? The verdict is still out and for some species, particularly the blue and fin whales, the outlook is grim indeed. There are some nations that are currently lobbying for a return to commercial whaling in these waters, even though many whale populations are only at one or two percent of their prior to whaling days numbers. How can this possibly be in the age of enlightenment we purportedly live in?
Sitting on a massive whale vertebra in the warm sunshine, surrounded by dazzling snow-capped peaks, I ponder these questions. I smile to myself as many of our guests stop to ask about the whale bones, and then naturally ask themselves the very same questions I am contemplating. Can we make the difference? Can a small group of Antarctica ambassadors go out into the world of business and industry and have an impact on what happens here at the bottom of our planet? Can we put a final end to whaling in these waters?
The only acceptable answer is of course a resounding “YES!” Wouldn’t you agree?
“Dem bones, dem bones.” The child-like song ran through my mind as we walked near, around, and over scattered whale bones at Jougla Point across from Port Lockroy here in Antarctica. Craniums and mandibles from several different species of great whale mixed with the ribs and vertebrae of several others. Here a scapula, there a radius, everywhere a phalange. A veritable smorgasbord of whale bones piled in a careless heap or scattered along the coastline attest to a time and place so different than the one we choose to live in today.
It was not so long ago, within the span of our own memory for many of us, that these magnificent creatures were hunted and slaughtered by the thousands, tens of thousands, and even hundreds of thousands here in the Southern Ocean. Whalers mistakenly thought that there were so many of the huge leviathans that they couldn’t possibly fish them all out. History has proven them wrong as first humpback, then blue, fin, and finally sperm whales became so scarce it wasn’t economically viable to hunt for them here any longer.
There were perhaps as many as 300,000 blue whales killed in these waters between 1919 and 1966, when a moratorium was finally placed on the slaughter. Fin whales suffered even greater losses in the 20th century here, with as many as 700,000 individual whales being hunted and killed. Over 115,000 sperm whales met their end at the hand of whalers in that timeframe in the rich Southern Ocean. In total perhaps 1.4 million whales were culled from this area for meat, oil, and bone meal. A total of over 71 MILLION tons of whales killed, processed, and shipped north in the 1900’s from whale stations such as this one at Port Lockroy.
Can these whale populations make a comeback here in Antarctica? The verdict is still out and for some species, particularly the blue and fin whales, the outlook is grim indeed. There are some nations that are currently lobbying for a return to commercial whaling in these waters, even though many whale populations are only at one or two percent of their prior to whaling days numbers. How can this possibly be in the age of enlightenment we purportedly live in?
Sitting on a massive whale vertebra in the warm sunshine, surrounded by dazzling snow-capped peaks, I ponder these questions. I smile to myself as many of our guests stop to ask about the whale bones, and then naturally ask themselves the very same questions I am contemplating. Can we make the difference? Can a small group of Antarctica ambassadors go out into the world of business and industry and have an impact on what happens here at the bottom of our planet? Can we put a final end to whaling in these waters?
The only acceptable answer is of course a resounding “YES!” Wouldn’t you agree?
