Whales and Whaling

Whales belong to the mammalian order Cetacea (whales, dolphins, and porpoises), which in turn is divided into two extant groups, Mysticeti (baleen whales) and Odontoceti (toothed whales). The former group includes most of the large or “great whale” species, such as the blue whale and humpback whale, all of which are filter feeders. These latter whales use baleen plates (mostly made of the protein keratin) in place of teeth to sieve prey species out of seawater. The mysticete whales breathe through two closable blowholes, as opposed to one blowhole in the toothed whales. The odontocetes include the other “great whale,” the sperm whale, and a variety of other families of cetaceans including beaked whales (family Ziphiidae), dolphins (family Delphinidae), and porpoises (family Phocoenidae). The moniker whale historically refers to a large cetacean and is not a biological term. Indeed, several “whales” such as killer whales and pilot whales are, in fact, dolphins.

Humans have utilized cetaceans since prehistory. In Europe, the Anglo-Saxon and Nordic peoples conducted hunts for large baleen whales, primarily coastal species such as the now extinct Atlantic gray whale, from at least the 9th century. Indeed, whales were so much a part of Nordic life that several laws were drawn up in the middle ages as to the ownership and disposition of whale carcasses. Whaling also took place in Japanese waters since at least the 3rd century c.e. by “driving”—that is, trapping whales and dolphins in small bays where they were then killed.

Whaling as a commercial activity began with the French and Spanish Basques in the middle of the 11th century, who hunted North Atlantic right whales, bowhead whales, and Atlantic gray whales. Much of the Basque whaling was originally concentrated around the Atlantic coasts of Spain and France; however, as whales became scarce in the Bay of Biscay, whalers expanded their area of activity and were hunting in Canadian waters as early as 1526. Commercial whaling operations by the Dutch and English began in 1610, often using experienced Basque whaling men on their crews. The Danes followed suit shortly after. Colonists of New England began whaling in the early 17th century, [Page 1948]although Native Americans had been practicing whaling since before the arrival of Europeans. Germans began whaling in 1694, but Dutch and British fleets dominated the industry in the 17th century, with the British taking the lion's share in the 18th century.

These whaling activities again focussed on North Atlantic right whales and bowhead whales in arctic and subarctic Atlantic waters. Indeed, the right whale gains its name because it was considered to be the “right” whale to hunt—it was slow, primarily found in coastal waters, it had a thick blubber layer that yielded much oil, and when the animal died it did not sink. Although records and archaeological evidence are scarce, the Atlantic gray whale is believed to have been rendered extinct during this period, with whaling possibly being the final straw for a perhaps already vulnerable species.

Early Basque whalers used every part of the whale, from the consumption of the meat, to the use of the feces as an orange-colored dye for clothing. However, the main product of commercial whaling was whale oil, which was used not only for lighting but also in industrial processes such as soap making. Baleen was also utilized, and in many respects this “whalebone” was the plastic of its time, being strong yet flexible. Many European whalers indeed concentrated on whalebone as a resource, particularly when the ladies' fashions of the day enlarged the market for whalebone-reinforced garments. In other nations, whalebone was used to make household tools, such as brooms in Barbados.

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