Lankide:New biologyst/Proba orria

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https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerta_de_Herodes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_key

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mawtini

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handala

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At its peak in the 1960s, we were hunting 80,000 whales every year.

It didn’t go unnoticed that this rate of whale catch was unsustainable. In fact, a number of countries formed the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1946 to work out how to manage international whaling stocks. Quotas were introduced, but countries weren’t adhering to them.8 Whaling rates continued to rise, even after the lull of World War II. By the mid-20th century, many species were pushed to the brink of extinction.

Fearing that commercial whaling in Antarctica—an activity pursued by many different nations around the world—would eventually lead to extinction of many different whale species and irreversible damage to the ecosystem, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) was founded. The IWC was charged with the dubious task of trying to regulate the whaling industry to a position of sustainability, where catches would be balanced by production. In this, however, the commission failed. In fact, the only thing that ultimately drove companies from the business of whaling was a drop in profits—a drop due to a great lack of whales in the region to a point in which there not many left to kill.

The impact of the IWC did come in time, however. In the 1960s, for example, blue whales and humpback whales became fully protected; a level of protection that was then extended to fin and sei whales in the 1970s. Eventually, in 1986, the IWC suspended all commercial whaling whatsoever.

An abandoned whaling boatToday, commercial whaling has all but ceased around the world, although some nations, particularly Japan, continue to catch whales in the name of scientific research: to find out if the time has come to recommence commercial whaling in the Antarctic region. Many of these “scientifically worthy” whales, however, end up in some of Japan’s upscale restaurants, where one whale can often fetch a market price of 1 million dollars or more.

Whales are now protected by the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling.(80)

Egun, arrantza, turismo eta ikerketa zientifikoan nagusitzen diren bitartean.

https://books.google.es/books?id=ob42uyPdnOgC&pg=PA104&hl=es&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false (the antartic whale massacre; arpoon technology invention +)!! doi = 10.1086/ahr.115.5.1453-a

South georgia (https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/33334886.pdf) (https://www.antarcticacruises.com/guide/antarctica-whaling-history-and-abandoned-whaling-stations) + Port Lockroy (https://www.ukaht.org/latest-news/2021/a-history-of-whaling/) whale hunting ports (harbors)

Between 1909 and 1965, the whaling station of Leith Harbour on South Georgia was one of the busiest whaling stations in the world, with more than 48,000 whales processed into oil for margarine, bone meal for fertiliser and other products. Last November, a film crew was granted access to the abandoned whaling stations, and a new BBC4 documentary shows the remains of whaling life, and the wildlife that is re-colonising Leith Harbour. (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2014/jun/10/britains-whale-hunters-in-pictures)

whaling (https://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/wildlife/whales/whaling1.php)

(britain)The shore stations on the island of South Georgia were at the center of the Antarctic whaling industry from its beginnings in 1904 until the late 1920s when pelagic whaling increased. The activity on the island remained substantial until around 1960, when Norwegian–British Antarctic whaling came to an end.

In 1946, 15 whaling nations formed the International Whaling Commission, with membership also open to non-whaling nations. It prohibited killing gray, humpback and right whales, limited hunting seasons, and set an Antarctic limit of 16,000 "Blue Whale Units" per year, but again had no enforcement ability. In 1949–1952 more than 2,000 humpbacks per year were harvested in the Antarctic, despite an annual quota of 1,250. In 1959–1964, there were disagreements over a moratorium on blue whales and humpbacks, with scientific advice eventually recommending a limit of 2,800 blue whale units. The IWC adopted quotas of 8,000. In 1970 the United States prohibited import of whale products by adding all commercial whales to its Endangered Species List.

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Ironically, it was the search for new populations of seals that was ultimately responsible for much of the early exploration of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. One of the very first sightings of the Antarctic continent is credited to Nathaniel Palmer, an American sealer who spotted the continent in the summer of 1820. Additionally, the first group to winter in the region was a ten-member crew of the British sealing ship Lord Melville on King George Island, just north of the Antarctic Peninsula.

Like whaling, sealing became big business in the waters around Antarctica, and many people feared their dwindling numbers would lead to a disastrous collapse of the region’s bio-system. In response to this, a commission was formed entitled the “Convention for the Conversation of Antarctic Seals” (CCAS). Generally speaking, the CCAS was initiated to curtail the over-exploitation of fur seals and the disastrous effects on seal stocks. The CCAS established rules for commercial sealing, with permissible catch limits for some species, including the Crabeater, Leopard and Weddell seals. A zoning system, which included closed hunting seasons in various areas, was also drawn up, and certain species of fur seal, such as the Ross Seal, were given total protection from sealers.

Since the 1950s, sealing in Antarctica has been closed and the numbers of fur seals is once again flourishing.

Whaling and sealing in Antarctica during the 19 and 20 centuries caused an upset in the continent’s ecosystem that took decades to repair. Their slaughter was driven by economic greed, and had it not been for the respective commissions that were set up to study the effects of these two economic activities they could very well be extinct today in the waters that surround Antarctica. Today, thanks to the Antarctic Treaty, none such economic activities are permitted in Antarctica. The Treaty also states that, on Antarctica itself, no Antarctic bird or land animal can be killed or captured without a permit—granted only for scientific reasons under the terms of the treaty. (78)

Sealing was the first exploitative industry in the Antarctic region. Throughout the 19th century it was characterised by large fluctuations in catches and shifts in hunting grounds as seals were almost exterminated in several locations. This paper reviews the historical literature on this industry. In particular it reviews sources and data that relate to its economic importance. So far, no one has succeeded in indicating the aggregate economic value of the industry. The main aim, therefore, is to investigate new data, especially on market prices that will enable a more accurate assessment of the significance of the industry.

It was in the South Seas that sealing became a major enterprise from the late 18th century. Samuel Enderby, along with Alexander Champion and John St Barbe organized the first commercial expedition to the South Atlantic Ocean in 1776, initially with the primary aim of whaling, although sealing began to play a prominent part in the operation as well. More expeditions were sent in 1777 and 1778 before political and economic troubles hampered the trade for some time.

On 1 September 1788, the 270-ton ship Emilia, owned by Samuel Enderby & Sons and commanded by Captain James Shields, departed London. The ship went west around Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean to become the first ship of any nation to conduct operations in the Southern Ocean. Emilia returned to London on 12 March 1790 with a cargo of 139 tons of sperm oil.

By 1784, the British had fifteen ships in the southern fishery, all from London. By 1790 this port alone had sixty vessels employed in the trade. Between 1793 and 1799 there was an average of sixty vessels in the trade. The average increased to seventy-two in the years between 1800 and 1809.

The sealing industry extended further south to the South Georgia island, first mapped by Captain James Cook in HMS Resolution on 17 January 1775. During the late 18th century and throughout the 19th century, South Georgia was inhabited by English and Yankee sealers, who used to live there for considerable periods of time and sometimes overwintered. In 1778, English sealers brought back from the Island of South Georgia and the Magellan Strait area as many as 40,000 seal skins and 2,800 tons of elephant seal oil. More fur seals from the island were taken in 1786 by the English sealing vessel Lord Hawkesbury, and by 1791, 102 vessels, manned by 3,000 sealers, were hunting seals south of the equator. The first commercial visit to the South Sandwich Islands was made in 1816 by another English ship, the Ann.

The sealers pursued their trade in a most unsustainable manner, promptly reducing the fur seal population to near extermination. As a result, sealing activities on South Georgia had three marked peaks in 1786–1802, 1814–23, and 1869–1913 respectively, decreasing in between and gradually shifting to elephant seals taken for oil. Following the discovery of the South Shetland Islands in 1819, the sealing grounds were expanded to what is now the Antarctic Treaty area.

Antarctic Historical Sealing and Material Culture

The economic significance of the 19th century Antarctic sealing industry