Targeted Species
Throughout time, certain species of whales where targeted more than others due to many factors such as:
One example which shows how most of these factors affect the choice of whales that was killed were the Japanese whaling catches from 1952 to 1979. The pie graph below which displays and compares the different numbers of species of whales that were killed by the Japanese in that time period shows how certain species were targeted much more than others. From this graph, we can see that the Sei whales were targeted the most with Fin whales followed closely behind as the stocks of blue, humpback and white whales. The reason behind this was that the Sei whales were abundant in Western North Pacific off the coast of Japan while the Fin whales were populated around the edge of the North Pacific Ocean reaching from California to Japan. On the other-hand Blue Whales, Bryde's Whales and Humpback whales weren't killed nearly as much due to the fact that they were less common and harder to kill as they were larger.
- The sustainability
- How common the whales were
- Where the were found
- How hard they were to kill depending on their size
- Quotas set which caused one specie of whale being targeted more than another
One example which shows how most of these factors affect the choice of whales that was killed were the Japanese whaling catches from 1952 to 1979. The pie graph below which displays and compares the different numbers of species of whales that were killed by the Japanese in that time period shows how certain species were targeted much more than others. From this graph, we can see that the Sei whales were targeted the most with Fin whales followed closely behind as the stocks of blue, humpback and white whales. The reason behind this was that the Sei whales were abundant in Western North Pacific off the coast of Japan while the Fin whales were populated around the edge of the North Pacific Ocean reaching from California to Japan. On the other-hand Blue Whales, Bryde's Whales and Humpback whales weren't killed nearly as much due to the fact that they were less common and harder to kill as they were larger.
Figure 1, Source: Whales, Whaling and Ecosystems. (graph made personally)
However, those were not the only factors that contributed as quotas set at the time was also another factor that contributed to the targeting of certain species. For example in 1932 a quota known as the BWU was set with the unit as the number of blue whales where a blue whale being equal to 2 fin whales which is equal to 2 and 1/2 humpback which is then equal to 6 Sei whales. However, there was no limit of the size of the whales and because of this many whalers began to target female blue whales and pregnant ones in particular since they were the largest specie of whale and had produced the most oil in proportion to their size. This targeting of one specie of whales had then lead to a dramatic decrease in the Blue whale population while other whale species population had slightly recovered.
Both the examples above show how many factors can lead to certain species being targeted which can cause a dramatic decrease in whale population especially for the targeted whale species.
Both the examples above show how many factors can lead to certain species being targeted which can cause a dramatic decrease in whale population especially for the targeted whale species.