Biocide! 2.9 million whales slaughtered in 100 years

Whales slaughtered.

The first estimate of the number of whales killed during the 2oth century is set to be published in the next edition of . Researchers hunted through the records and found that between 1900 and 1999 a total of 2.9 million whales were killed.

The scale of modern industrial whaling that took hold in the early and mid 1900's is astonishing. The researchers, Robert C. Rocha, Jr., Phillip J. Clapham, and Yulia Ivashchenko , found that between 1900 and 1962 the number of sperm whales killed equalled the total estimated to have been killed over the previous 200 years.

But the height of the whaling industry was only just beginning. In the following 10 years between 1962 and 1972 the industry managed to repeat the scale of killing.

The researchers estimated that between 1712 and 1899 whaler in small sailing boats managed to kill 300,000 sperm whales. Modern techniques and improved shipping meant whalers killed 300,000 sperm whales between 1900 and 1962. Then the big factory ships were launched and in just 10 years another 300,000 sperm whales were caught.

By the time the International Whaling Commission had effectively banned whaling in 1982 they estimate that at least 2,870,291 had been killed since the start of the century.

Up to 1963 it was estimated that whalers were taking upwards of 10,000 fin whales each year before numbers began to fall. Sei whales where then targeted at rates exceeding 10,000 per year. Baleen whales were a major species for the whalers until population levels dropped to levels which led to annual catches falling below 10,000 per year in 1969.

Following declining catches of preferred species (fin and sei) in the northern hemisphere during the 1970's the whalers turned their harpoon sights on Bryde's and humpback whales.

Minke whales in the northern hemisphere were targeted by whalers as the northern blue whale population declined. From the 1940 through to the 1980s about 3000 minke whales in the northern hemisphere were killed. Minke whales escaped targeting for a couple of decades because of the prevalence of more profitable species. But by 1964 the minke whales of the southern hemisphere were also being targeted as other whale species declined.

The speed and scale of the whaling during those 85 years was such that many species almost disappeared and have still not recovered - and are unlikely to reach their former populations. The paper points to the Southern Blue whale which now numbers just 1% of prewhaling populations.

The researchers were also able to take advantage of the more open scientific relationships in the former USSR compared to the times of the whaling industry. They were able to uncover new figures from the Russian whaling fleet which partly explains the failure of the North Pacific right whales. Despite a hunting ban being put in place on the species in 1935 the USSR continued to hunt the whales and failed to report the killings to the IWC. Total global catch for all whales recorded in Russia appears to be 534.204 but 178,118 of them were not reported to the IWC monitoring group.

While the USSR were not the only country to be actively killing whales that had been put on IWC ban lists - many countries including the UK were actively ignoring international agreements on various species - they were the most prolific poachers.

After the blue whale hunt ban was bought established in 1966 98% of ban breeches were by soviet whalers. 96% of humpbacks killed after that species were protected by hunting was again by soviet whalers. Despite a ban on hunting of northern grey whales during the 1930's the US government still issued permits for over 300 whales after 1947 for 'scientific' reasons.

The worst year for whales in the northern hemisphere was 1966 when 33,473 whales were killed. In the southern hemisphere the worst year was 1960 with 62,169 killed.

The scientists concluded the paper with a quote from John Gulland regarding fisheries: whaling management in the 20th century was an interminable debate about the status of stocks until all doubt was removed.

And so were most of the whales.

Paper reference:

Emptying the Oceans: A Summary of Industrial Whaling Catches in the 20th Century (pdf)