Rastogi et al. presented their genetic analysis of 16th-century whale bones found on a Basque whaling ship excavated from Red Bay, Labrador Peninsula, Canada. Based on the results from a very small sample, these authors concluded that whaling populations were already depleted before the onset of whaling. This is in direct contradiction to historical data. They also implied that the Basques were the only Europeans whaling in the North Atlantic before the onset of Yankee whaling and that there was a belief that Basque whalers historically killed equal numbers of right and bowhead whales. Here we present data based on historical and archaeological records generated by several authors using different methodologies, which clearly show that (i) Basques were not the only whalers that impacted cetacean populations in the North Atlantic; (ii) the number of whales killed by different peoples for approximately two centuries indicates that both right and bowhead whale population levels were much higher than typically assumed; and (iii) for many years there have been records published indicating that the Basques and others killed more bowhead whales than right whales, at least in the western North Atlantic.Résumé : Rastogi et al. ont présenté une analyse génétique des os de baleines du 16 e siècle retrouvés sur un baleiner basque enfoui à Red Bay, péninsule du Labrador, Canada. D'après les résultats obtenus d'un très petit échantillon, les auteurs concluent que les populations de baleines étaient déjà épuisées avant même le début de la chasse à la baleine. Cette affirmation est en contradiction directe avec les données historiques. Les auteurs présument que les basques étaient les seuls européens à chasser la baleine dans l'Atlantique nord avant le début de la chasse par les yankees; ils supposent aussi qu'il existe un consensus voulant que les basques aient tué dans le passé un nombre égal de baleines franches du Nord et de baleines franches boréales. Nous présentons ici des données basées sur des travaux historiques et archéologiques de plusieurs auteurs utilisant des méthodologies différentes qui montrent clairement que (i) les basques n'étaient pas les seuls chasseurs à avoir affecté les populations de cétacés dans l'Atlantique nord, (ii) le nombre de baleines tuées par les différents peuples pendant environ deux siècles indique que les densités de population, tant des baleines franches du Nord que celles des baleines franches boréales, étaient beaucoup plus élevées qu'on ne le croit habituellement et (iii) depuis de nombreuses années, il existe des publications qui indiquent que les basques et les autres peuples tuaient plus de baleines franches boréales que de baleines franches du Nord, au moins dans l'ouest de l'Atlantique nord.[Traduit par la Rédaction]
The second reply by J.W. Higdon (2008. Can. J. Zool. 86: 76–79) criticizes a previously published comment by us of T. Rastogi et al.’s (2004. Can. J. Zool. 82: 1647–1654) paper saying that we presented factual errors, misused key sources, and made a number of omissions. The main objective of our original comment was to show that there had been many other peoples and nations besides the Basques who were engaged in whaling in the North Atlantic for many centuries and, therefore, the Basques could not have been solely responsible for anthropogenic impacts on the populations of large whales in that part of the world. To that end we only sampled some sources to make our point. In this rebuttal, we show that Higdon mischaracterizes our comment as a historical review and that neither he nor B.A. McLeod et al. (2006. Can. J. Zool. 84: 1066–1069) provide any evidence that challenges our fundamental conclusions.
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