Busch book

Busch, Robert H. Gray Whales, Wandering Giants. Victoria, B.C.: Orca Book Publishers, 1998.

1 - whales prob. evolved from mesonychids (dog-sized long snouted mammals / reptiles?) / then evol. into Protocetus / then archeocetes (50 mill. yrs ago late Eocene period)

2 - today's whales: flippers w/ 4-5 "fingers" / vestigial hind limbs / external genitalia absorbed / some whale embryos (Pakicetus) today: 4 limbs, ext. genitalia, nostrils at end of snout

3 - baleen vs. toothed (baleen more recent - gray whale oldest of baleen?)
1st fossil of gray: 100,000 yrs ago late Pleistocene Epoch (changed very little in 100,000 yrs)
-structure of whale blood serum: closely resembles artiodactyls (hooved animals / cows, sheep, pigs)
-hippopotamus = closest living relative

4 - 1693 John Ray: classified whales as mammals
1864 J. E. Gray (British Museum)- Eschrichtius robustus (named for Daniel Eschrichtius - Danish zoology prof)
order Cetacea (Gr. ketos - sea monster)
80 species identified
2 suborders: Odontoceti (toothed: orca & sperm) /Mysticeti (baleen) - Gr. word mustache
Nicknames: California whale, desert whale, devilfish, hardhead, grayback, mossback, musseldigger, rip-sack, clam-digger. Japan: koku kujira; Russia: seryi kit
-all mysticeti (baleen) have dual blowholes (= heart-shaped spray)

5 - SIZE: adult 10-13 m (35 - 45') long / wt 22 - 38 metric t
femals larger than males
record: 15.5 m (51') long ; wt 42 t
long and narrow
1/2 size of blue whale

7 - unique skin pigmentation pattern - allows identification - round white markings - barnacles have fallen off; newborns are dark grey; skin smooth

8 - eyes are brown and size of orange (2m behind tip of snout)
bristles on snout (50+) and lower jaw (100+); evolved frm haired creatures
throat grooves under chin - skull large (1/5 of body length)

9 - 2 lg flippers 1m behind and below eyes - pectoral fins used for steering
4 long finger-like digits *look like giant human hand (skeleton / carcass)- frightening
6-12? knuckles on back 2/3 (no dorsal fin)
tail: 2 lg flukes w/ notch 3m across (wt 400 lbs)
tail is horizontal (fish is vertical)
not connected to spinal column - made up of strong connective tissue
up & down = forward propulsion
56 vertebrae - like all mammals - 7 cervical vertebrae

10 - Oct: northern ice pushes S & days get shorter - 61000 kms S
125 km / day (travel day & night)
late Nov: Unimak Pass (SW tip AK Aleutian islands) 12 mi wide
late Dec: Van Isl offshore then closer to OR shore
between Monterey / San Diego swiim within 1mi of shore
Monterey Bay & channel islands - some whales side trips
Baja: main stream of whales 350 mi S of San Diego

15 - 4 bays breeding: Guerrero Negro (W.)
Scammon's
San Ignacio
Magdalena
some whales go to w side mainland mexico
Yavaros, Bahia Navachiste, Bahia Altata, Bahia Reforma (Santa Maria)

16 - Capt. Charles Scammon (note: whales used to swim right up to northern tip of Sea of Cortez (Consaq Is / Shoal Pt) -today rarely farther than Yavaros Bay
-females impregnated prev. yr stay extended period to give birth (mating female stays only for few wks)

17 - gestation: 13 mos - single fetus
Jan. 27 - peak in gray whale births
lagoon entrances / farthest edges or at sea
most females give birth every other year
impregnated in lagoons & return to give birth
unlike most whales / gray whales born headfirst
-if born underwater, baby instinctively swims to surface for 1st breath of air

18 - CALVES: born fully developed 4-5 m long (12 - 16') wt 700 - 900 kg (1500 - 2000 lbs)
umbilical cord snaps off; fetal folds in skin from being curled up
-female nipple: within 2 clefts of skin on each side of genital slit / squirts milk into calf's mouth
-suckle less than 1 hr after birth
drinks betw. 13 - 22 l (3.5 - 6 gal) milk / day (35-53% fat / cow's milk 3-4% fat)
milk 6x protein content of human milk
calves gain 90 kg / 200 lbs / day - double wt by time of leaving lagoons
nurse for 6-9 mos
ride on mother's back first few days
calves play: on mothers, in waves

20 - calves older; groups of up to 20 mother / calves prs will socialize
mothers use flippers to warn or reprimand calves
defend baby strenously (described by SCAMMON)

21 - 1956 heart specialist Paul Dudley White - wanted to implant electrocardiograph - boat smashed

22 - whales continually leaving / entering lagoon
Swartz & Jones: 81% stay in lagoon 1 wk or less (San Ignacio)
some cows rtn to same lagoons yr after yr to give birth / others different
San Ignacio often used as mtg area before heading north, esp from Guerrero Negro & Scammon lagoon
San Ignac: females prefer to give birth in upper part (water 4m / 14' deep)
peak of mating season - San Ignacio - 600 whales - mating at entrance
after birthing: females stay in upper lagoon for month or 2 before journey north

23 - north: migrate in groups: 1-5 individ. (sometimes/rarely groups up to 18)
mature whales leave lagoons first - followed by jueveniles ; mothers w/ calves last (MARCH) - stragglers early may
-journey north isn't as fast (not as urgent re: birthing); 4-6 mos;
1 tagged whale: 7000 km (4620 mi) 94 days (aver. 74 km / 49 mi / day)
same approx speed day & night; but some time for rest
-don't sleep like humans but rest (1 biol. est: 1/2 hr naps 6 or 7 / day)
-don't breathe unconciously ; float near surface to rise and breathe ("logging")
migrating mothers w/ calves follow coastline closely
all migrate over continental shelf (water less than 9m (30') deep)
CA coast: mothers w/ calves in shallower water within 200 m (650') of shore

25 - migration: same route memory?? Ray Gilmore (San Diego biologist) remembers tastes of sediment in water off lagoons & estuaries to keep on course?
navigation: magnetic fields? (finback whales follow magnetic contours rather than cross a geomagnetic gradient / magnetic material in whales brains allow them to detect magnetic fields?)
anal glands: excrete scent detected by other whales? scent trail?
feed during migration: Cox Bay, Cow Bay, Ahous Bay, Hesquiat Harbour in MARCH (Van Isl)
Bering Sea AK: June/ Unimak Pass
wks later arr. Bering SEA (ST. LAWRENCE ISLAND)
some go further to Chukchi Sea w. Wrangell Island
some east - Beaufort Sea / MacKenzie Delta
Bering & Chukchi - shallow 50 - 68 m (165 - 225 ' deep)
75% of grays feed in Bering / St. Lawrence island (1982 Russian biolgi. recommended set aside as protected area)

26 - some summer residents along coast then rejoin group Nov
e.g. Gulf of Farallon (CA / OR)
+ 30 grays OR (betw. Alsea R. & Cape Foulweather)
+ Puget Sound area
largest: Van Isl summer residents (35-50)
names: (JIM DARLING) Two Dot Star (Tofino 20 yrs ) / Splotch / Ditto / Prop / Elvis

28 - hearing most important sense (Victor B Scheffer quote 'every whale everywhere lives in a sea of total sound'
-whales: auditory nerve is relatively larger than in other mammals - lobes in brain resp. for hearing are highly developed / hearing site bigger than sight site (human brain centers of sight and hearing are approx. same size)
-water: sound travels 4.5x faster than in air & travels farther (long dist. communication quite possible / 20 hz sound near surface can travel over 400 mi in good conditions
-gray whales make audible sounds (1889 H.L. Aldrich reported that gray whales 'sing' in Arctic feeding grounds)
-clicks , groans, squeaks, rasps, roars (squeezing air through larynx / blowhole, or bursts of air from lungs

29 -UBC researcher Marilyn Dahlheim - taped vocalizations in Baja - situations where grays were vocal / most common sound was pulsing low freq sound between 20 - 3000 hz (fell withing the frequency range of outboard engine noise, which seems to attract the whales) - in Chukchi and Bering sea even lower freq sounds predominate - 14 - 955 hz

30 - unlike dolphins & killer whales / gray whales do not appear to use high freq sounds for echo-location (Ken Norris experiment w/ poles across channel in lagoon - dolphins avoided, whales got tangled)

31 - eyes located far back on head - do not posess good binocular vision like humans - field of vision is primarily 2 monocular fields on both sides of body
-eyes relatively small (human eyes 1/70 of our body mass / whale eyes 1/600 of total mass)
-gray whales eyeball: nearly spherical lens / small number of cone cells (sharpness) - may have blurry vision /
-observers say g. wh. see well - "spy-hopping" up on tail / treading water
-no idea re: colour vision

34 - sense of smell poorly developed / small patch of smell receptors in nasal passages
-thin epidermis - sensitive to touch
"shiver" response to human touch
flippers used to fondle mate or calf - rub against boats
-taste (san diego sea world 1970s whale Gigi would spit out mackerel in 30 lbs of squid)

36 - streamlining of body reduces drag in water - whale's epidermis excretes tiny droplets of oil that decrease drag even further
-outer layer of skin sheds rapidly / this helps reduce drag
-specialized bone structure & thick layer of blubber = bouyancy
-hard outer bone covers spongy web-like inner structure laced with blood vessels / gaps between tissues & vessels filled with marrow high in oil content (some whale bones can actually float on water)
-long narrow body of g. w. allows it to swim in water less than 10' deep (= lagoons etc) - less than other whales
-normal cruising speed 3-9 km (2-6 mi) / hour (can go faster if fleeing predators)

37 - surface and breathe 2 or 3 x at 10 - 20 sec intervals before submerging for 3-5 minutes (whales like humans take big breath first / seals exhale before diving)
-g.w. usually only take shallow dives, reappearing 1000' from spot they dove
-deep dives = may stay under for 25 min / 2600 ' away
"footprint" of calm water left behind from upwelling from flukes when diving
-most dives less than 100' (thought to dive to max 395 ')
-valves around blowhole close to keep out water during deep dive - plus sclera of whales eye (white part) is thick and can take high pressures - & rib cage quite flexible

38 - surfacing: exhalation - spout 10' high (heartshaped dual blowholes) 100 gal of air expelled in 1 blow
-tiny oil droplets - mist -

39 - breaching - swim underwater rapidly, then suddenly raise head up, turning vertical then land on side or back (2 or 3 x in a row)
-courtship? males? sound produced travels underwater?

40-breaching: knock off lice /barnacles / parasites?

41 - whales muscle tissue high in myoglobin - an iron based protein similar to hemoglobin in humans - myoglobin stores oxygen & allows whales to dive for extended periods of time w/o taking another breath
-whales store 41% of oxygen in muscles (comp. to 13% humans)
-whales have up to 2-3 x more blood per unit of body weight than humans, further enabling them to store O2
-g.w. heart: weighs over 285 lbs
-g.w. more alveoli (air cells) than humans & two layers of capillaries (humans have 1) - greatly incr. efficiency of air exchange
-most whales' lungs can remove 2x amt o2 from air as human lungs
-g.w. breathe 30-50 breaths / hr - lungs much bigger than humans (aver 730 lbs)

42 - when they dive, - series of rapid breaths which saturate pulmonary system w/ o2
- on deep dive, whales heart rate slows down & blood flow is restricted / o2 supply depleted very slowly (adaptation: brachycardia)
-heart rate decreases from normal 8-10 beats / minute to 4-5 beats / min
(about 1/10 rate requ by human diver)
-whales don't worry about "bends - nitrogen gas bubbles in blood if surfaces too fast - blubber absorbs some of the nitrogen and rest is trapped in foamy oil in nasal sacs and sinuses (nitrogen is then expelled w/ oil when whale spouts)

43 -g.w. normal internal temp 37 - 38 deg. c (96-99 deg F) (in north swim in water 3-4 d C / 37-39 d F)
-insulated blubber 5 in (complex mix of fibrous, fatty and connective tissues honeycombed with large oil-filled cells - thickest layers of blubber in pregnant females )
-keep whales warm - even in death rate of cooling is slow

44- g.w. bottom feeders - 1865 Scammon: gw. 'head and lips besmeared with the dark ooze from the depths below'
-swim down to bottom, roll on side, and plunge its head few inches into muck
-expanding / contracting throat grooves, retracting huge tongue (weighs 3000 lbs) - suction created that sucks bottom mud into whales mouth -
food moved around by tongue and pushed out through baleen - (hang from upper jaw like curtain) - food items trapped by baleen - rest pushed out through sides of mouth
-g.w. "right-handed"? wear of barnacles on right side of head and degree of wear on baleen plates on right side of mouth - most grays use right side of mouths for sucking in food
-160 pairs of baleen plates hang down on both sides of upper jaw
-each plate up to 15 in long and up to 10 in wide - plates made of keratin (like our fingernails)
-top of each plate is hard and solid (anchored in jaw) / but leading edge feathered like a toothbrush
-they ingest sand & pebbles sometimes
-sometimes make 2 passes - to stir up top inch and then gulp in cloud of organisms

46 - Grice Bay / Tofino - low tide - huge pits on bottom left by whales (up to 10' long)
-bering sea: estim. grays sift a minimum of 171 tonnes (156 tons) of bottom sediment every yr
-stir up nutrients that feed other organisms
-feed on amphipods, isopods, gastropods, bivalve molluscs, hydrozoans, and worms
-most imp: amphipods - (tiny crustaceans / look like shrimp) - 4600 amphipod species (90% of g.w. diet)
-arctic: 1/4" long Ampelisca macrocephala
-Grice Bay: ghost shrimp Caprella linearis (live right up to intertidal zone)

47 - also feed on floating / swimming organisms - lie on right sides on surface, gulping in mouthfuls of nutrient filled water
-San Ignacio lagoon - g.w. swim where currents are strongest - lie w/ mouths open, letting food get washed in
-Arctic: scoop up floating plankton - south / feeding on spawning squid / spring dine on krill (euphasiid shrimp)
-Hesquiat Harbour - herring roe (2 or 3 wks)

48 - Cow Bay - spring - thick clouds of crab larvae
Baja: tiny red crabs (Pleuroncodes planipes)

49-scrape small crustaceans off kelp & eelgrass
arctic over summer: estim. g.w. eat 67 tons of food - 900 lbs / day
on average 1 ton / day

56 - orcas (Orcinus orca) predators - residents (fish) & transients (seals, porpoises, otters, sm. whales occaisionally)
-scars on flippers or flukes from orca attacks

61 - covered w/ barnacle Cryptolepas rhachianecti (found only on g.w.) - heads and backs - clusters (1.5" diam -deeply embedded in whales outer skin / g.w. barnacles found in fossils dating back to Miocene 5 mill yrs ago)
-whale lice (tiny crustaceans incl. g.w. louse Cyamus scammoni & Cyamus kessleri & Cyamus ceti) - feed on dead skin -
gw. can carry several hundred lbs of barnacle / lice infestations
-probably carry more parasites than other whale species

62 - remove dead skin by rubbing on ocean bottom (also orcas / Robson Bight)
-also diseases: cancers, stomach ulcers, heart disease, pneumonia, jaundice, even arthritis
-and internal worms (Russian biologist Zimushko - out of 70 examined over 1/2 had internal worm infestations)

65 - per year: 14 strandings by gw along w. US coast & 2 or 3 along w coast of Van Isl
-5.4 % of g.w. calves die in calving lagoons - 31% of calves die before migrating past s. CA
75% of 1st yr mortalities occur w/in first few wks of birth
-those that survive can live long lives- g.w. aged by counting annual layers of wax deposited in ear plugs, each layer consisting of 1 light and 1 dark lamina - 56 yr. female in Russia / CA coast 75 yr old male - max life span
-strandings may be due to parisitic infestations or diseases which affect the whales' ability to navigate properly
-stranded whales are often found to have flatworms or roundworms in their brains or ear canals (1972 stranding of dolphins - every one had flatworms in brain)
-strandings could also be due to escaping from predators, follow food into shallow water, geomagnetic contours cross coastlines at right angles (using magnetic intensity to navigate and got confused)

64- strandings occur most commonly amoung toothed whales

65 - every year: about 14 strandings by gray whales on US coast & 2 or 3 on west coast Van Island

67-asia - koryak people hunted g.w. from skin boats using harpoons & lances / lived in nothern Okhotsk Sea along kamchatka peninsula - hunt in shallow bays
-archaeological site Namu with whale remains 9100 yrs old

68-poison on harpoons - (aconit - monkshood plant)
greatest number of grays taken along coast of Chukotka peninsula (extreme ne tip of asia)
chukchi & mechigmen people built settlements & memorials from bones of gw

69 -Aleut - called gw "chickakhluk" -
used harpoon tips of slate
-northern alaska inuit called gw "antokhak" -
-off s. coast of alaska Koniag people of Kodiak island occ. hunted whales as did chugash
SE coast of Alaska / tlingit did not hunt whales / used stranded whales (also Haida / Tsimshian)
Van Isl & Olym PenWA - avid whalers - Nootka
-"whale people" lived underwater in human form - left houses and became whales (SOURCE / NATION?)

70 - 8 man canoe - sang songs to whale

71 - Scammon wrote about Van Isl 1874 book
-Maquinna 1700's Van Is chief - spent 53 days at sea 1x - harpooning 8 whales but landed only 1
-both grays and humpbacks hunted (Clayoquot: middens - barnacles of humpbacks / La Push, WA: grays - midden bones)

72- makah - WA - called gw "sih-wah-wihw" means "beings with itchy faces"
-whale petroglyphs - Quisitis Pt - s of Wickaninish Interpretative Ctr @ Pac Rim Nat Pk (rubbing high on Inter Ctr wall)
-also Cape Alava WA

73 -makah ritual - whaling harpoons out of elk antlers or yew wood / w /sharpened mussel shell @ tip
-chief and wives would bathe in sacred ponds / swim slowly hoping whale would do the same
-mimicked spraying whales
-11 m (36') canoes cedar
-only chief or son allowed to harpoon - try to hit on shoulder behind fllipper (hit heart or lung)
-100' lines w/ inflated sealskin floats at ends (slow down whales as they bled to death)
-whales slowed down - hunters dive into ocean and sew mouth closed w/ cedar bark rope to keep it buoyant

74- towed to shore / butchered / used oil & bones
songs - whale as honoured guest
-plus oil as trading commodity - $8000 of whale oil 1856 (Makah) (accord. to H.H. Bancroft)

75-next bands s. of Makah - Quileute & Quinault & Klallam occais. hunted grays
S. of WA - Chumash - coastal s CA / Channel islands - used stranded whales
-cave painting in hills above Bahia Magdalena of whales w/ harpoons - Precolumbian aboriginals as far south as Baja hunted whales

78 - NE gw - asia - couple of hundred - (orig. 2 groups - )
whaling in Japan - 1600s - - 'koku kujira' - "devilfish'
Korean (W. Pacific) gray whale - orig. 2 groups - s on coast of Asia (along coast to s shore of s korea) / others travelled s from Kamchatka peninsula along Kuril islands & east coast of Japan to Kyushu (s. island of Japan)
-whaling in Japan - centuries ago - (10th c. poem about whaling with small boat)
1600's Japanese whalers / harpoons
1675 - whaling w/ nets then lances
1758 treatise of the Whale - drawing of gray whale
17th - 19th c - only 20 grays / yr harvested
1869 - 1878 peak harvest years
1898 modern whaling ships - demand for whale meat ( delicacy)
Gray whale gone from shores of Japan by 1914
1910 - 33 - Korean whaling ships 1500 gray whales

81 - whalewatching in Japan now 9mill$ . yr business
-similar migration - summers in Sea of Okhotsk & s to breeding grounds in Korea in winter
-interbreeding?

82 - atlantic gw - Eschrichtius gibbosus gibbosus - (first evolved there and then migrated to Pacific?)
-in Europe extinct in 14th century - NA lasted until 1750 -
-estimated range: Gulf of Mexico to greenland and Iceland
-whaling industry off NA east coast - arrival of Basque whalers late 1400s (as early as 1372?)
Basque began commerical whaling off coast of Europe 9th c and were predominant whalers in Europe by 11c
word harpoon - Basque word "arpoi" - "stone point"
1450 - Basques whaling from Azores n to Iceland
1534 - Jacques Cartier - Gulf of St. Lawrence
-Basque town Buterus in Labrador (listed in French maps as Hable de la Ballaine [harbour of the whales])
n tip of NFld: Karpont - corruption of Basque word / harpoon

83- Cap Arpont ( Cape Harpoon)
-Basques whaling stns along Strait of Belle Isle (Lab / nfld)
peak: 1560s- 1570s: 1000 men worked to produce 1/2 mil gallons of whale oil
-Boats: chalupas 8m long (26') 6 rowers
-lookout stns to spot whales - atalayas - tops of hills
-harpooned floating wooden drag ("droque") attached to tire cast out then lanced heart/lung and dragged to shore
-blubber cooked in furnaces ("try-works") - one was 9m (30') long - 6 copper cauldrons

84- Basques called gw "sandloegja" - "otta sotta" -
-oil stored in wooden barrels and shipped back to Europe - average galleon carried cargo of about 227,000 l (50,000 gal) of oil (worth $4 mill in today's $)
-right whales, bowheads & grays (gw not best whale oil or quantity - 1/3 as right whale)
-less than 50 years - Basque whalers killed 15000 whales (all types) in New world
1598 QE I sent whaling fleet to Greenland
1611 Muscovy company of England (greenland) then new england

85 - natives of east coast hunted gw called "powdaree" - described as hunting g. w. - but not sure if hunting or scavanging stranded
-whales common in New England waters - pilgrims 1620 Mayflower - whales along side)
Capn George Weymouth 1605 explore maine coast
-1632 near shore whaling Delaware
1632 commercial whaling Long Island sound -Dutch whalers
1687 - 7 small whaling factories - Southhamptom & Easthampton beaches of Long Island
1707 - these factories produced 6000 barrels of gray whale oil

86- 1658 British settlers (led by Thomas Macy) purchased Nantucket Island near Cape Cod for 30 pounds sterling & 2 beaver hats
14 years later: residents killed whale in harbour
Peak of Nantucket whaling 1726 - done by 1760

87-lancing heart or lung of whale - "tapping the claret's bottle"
-blowhole spouted blood: "running up a red flag"

88 -New englanders called atlantic gray whale "scrag whale" (named by naturalist Paul Dudley, 1725)
Scrag rocks / isles / bays / ledges
Long Isl: Sag Harbour orig. Scrag harbour
-whale oil - lamps of Europe and New England - used as lubricant, cooking oil and soaps
baleen (known incorrectly as "whalebone") - used in corset stays, umbrella ribs, walking canes, bristles for shaving brushes, springs for toys
-1850 fossil gray whale found coast of Sweden (W. Lilljeborg / Graso)
-1750 Atlantic gw extinct
-meat fed to livestock and pets
-whalebone ground up as bone meal

89: 1789: ship Emilia - first whaler to round s tip of SAmerica (nantucket whalers) - spread up w. coast of S. america and oout to Hawaii
-1793 - english whaling ship surveyed for whales as far n as cabo san lucas at s tip of Baja
1809 - new engl whalers were hunting sperm whales off coast of baja
1834 - whalers off Van Isl
1854 - Captain J.P. Davenport - taking gw off lower coast of CA
Baja hunting boom began 1858 - Captain Charles Melvillle Scammon

90 - Capn Charles Melville Scammon - b. Maine - left New Eng for new whaling waters off CA
-1856 - made his first gray-whaling trip to Magdalena Bay - followed stories of larger bay in fall 1857 (brig Boston left San Fran)
-discovered entrance to Laguna Ojo de Liebre (Jack Rabbit Spring Lagoon)
-1st winter: rendered down 700 barrels of oil from about 20 gray whales (small whale boat lowered over side and harpooned than dragged to shore for butchering)
-started to use boats' shoulder-held explosive bomb lances instead of harpoons to subdue whales

91 - 2nd trip Scammon plus 6 other boats
-whalers from Hawaii / England / France / russia as well
Scammon descr scene of slaughter as 'exceedingly picturesque and unusually exciting'
-est that Magdalena Bay betwe 1845 & 1848 500 gw killed
1854 - 1865 at least 1500 gw killed
SCammon's lagoon - 1858 - 1860 - over 1000 gw killed

92 -Scammon's last season as whaler 1863
- 1874 - The Marine Mammals of the Northwestern Coast of North America, Together With an Account of the American Whale-Fishery
-shore-based whaling began in Monterey in 1854 and soon spread up & down CA coast
-these stns specialized in catching whales within 15km (10 m) of shore using 8m (28') boats and 6 man crews - whales killed offshore towed to shore stns for butchering /

93 - 1870 - 11 shore-based whaling stations existed on the CA coast w/ try-works
-gw and humpback mmigration - whaling over 7 months / yr
-1854-1874 2500 whales taken by shore-based whalers in CA
-gw 35 barrels of oil / humpback 40-45 barrels oil
1865 price of whale oil soared to over $45 / barrel (plus humpback baleen good price - not gw baleen too short for value)
-whale sinews sold for about 25c / lb - exported to China for use in soups
10 yrs later whaling stns abandoned (gw so scarce / and humpback too??)_

94 - last stn to close was Monterey- lasted until 1900 - shore stn at Point Lobos on Carmel Bay restored & now part of Point Lobos State Reserve
-by mid-1870s only about 2000-5000 gw left, less than 1/2 orig population
-between 1845 -1874 over 8000 gw killed
-1865 invention of explosive harpoon gun by New Bedford captain - huge improvement over hand-held whale weaponry and bow-mounted muzzle loaders
-1868 - norwegian whaler Sven Foyn improved upon invention - Foyn added glass vial of sulfuric acid which broke when harpoon entered whale, detonating an explosive charge inside the whale's body
-new cannon heavy - weighed almost a ton - soon became standard - allowed shooting of whale from over 30 m (100 ') away
-1880 - steam powered whaling ships were first introduced to the west coast
-baleen still in high demand - price jumping from $1.02 / lb in 1868 to $2/lb in 1880 / by 1990 $5 / lb -
development of spring steel soon pushed the price of baleen down / by 1908 strong baleen mkt over
-around turn of century demand for whale oil also dipped - kerosene began to replace whale oil in lamps / petroleum (disc. 1859) began to replace wh. oil in lubricants / waxes / polishes / (but petroleum didn't totally replAce wh. oil until rapid expansion of auto industry in 1920s / 30s).

96 - modern whaling in BC began 1904 - launch of steam powered imported from Norway
-1905 first whaling stn on Van Island opened (Sechart / Barkley Sound)
-1907 - stn at Kyuquot / winter stn at Page's Lagoon
1911- 2 stns at QCI (Rose Harbour / Naden Harbour)
1948 - last of BC whaling stns at Coal Harbour / Quatsino Sound (n end of Van Isla)
experienced Japanese crews were sometimes used at BC whaling stns to carve up the whales and much of meat was sent to Japan
-whaling in BC reached peak in 1911 (1199 whales were caught)
1912 - large factory whaling ships developed - could process whales aboard ship
1913 - first factory ship used to hunt gw anchored off coastal lagoons of Baja
-new type of harpoon w/ exploding tip - upon entering whale - tip of harpoon would explode, springing out iron flukes that prevented harpoon from easily pulling out of the whale
-William Hagelund Whalers No More (description - early trainee in early 1900s)

-97- hydrogenation allowed oil to be solidified for use in margarine, shortening, soap, lubricants, lipsticks, face creams / meat ground up and used as meat meal for mink and pet food / bones ground up for bone meal / solid residue left after oil was boiled off was dried and sold as fertilizer / milk from females condensed and sold / meat pickled and sent to Japan
1911-1913 - over 4000 whales caught off coast of BC
-demand for margarine increased - (depression era) - 1925 133 gw whales killed for oil - highest 1 year harvest since Baja years
-1924-25 - & 28-29 - Norwegian & US factory ships again hunted gw along Baja coast
Norwegian ships alone took 182 gw off Baja between 1925 - 1929

1946 - formation of International Whaling Commission (IWC)