Bowhead whaling in Davis Strait and Baffin Bay during the 18th and 19th Centuries

Vaughan, Richard

doi:10.1017/s0032247400007117

Cited by 5 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…However harvest data are only available after 1719, when the trade became considerable enough to be distinguished from that which occurred east of Greenland (de Jong, 1978;. In Davis Strait, the number of Dutch vessels peaked in 1732 (Vaughn, 1986). After this, numbers fluctuated, with a near-continuous decline after 1770 (de Jong, 1978).…”

Section: Dutch Whalingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Commercial and subsistence harvests of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) in eastern Canada and West Greenland

Higdon¹

2023

JCRM

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Commercial harvesting of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) from the eastern Canada-West Greenland population started with Basque whalers in the Strait of Belle Isle ca 1530 AD. Subsistence harvests have an even longer history, and the first culture to be active bowhead whalers was the Thule, which replaced the Dorset culture in the central and eastern Arctic ca 1200 AD. Previous harvest compilations have been incomplete, and back-calculated population models have thus been negatively biased. In recent decades this population has shown significant recovery and is the subject of Inuit subsistence harvests in both Canada and West Greenland. A revised historic abundance estimate is needed to examine the level of recovery; this requires inter alia a revised and updated catch series. Available information from multiple anthropological, archaeological, historic and recent sources, and estimate commercial and subsistence harvests in eastern Canada and West Greenland is summarised. From 1530–1915, commercial whalers took an estimated 55,916–67,537 (median 61,537) bowhead whales (varying assumptions on the intensity of the Basque harvest), which is known to be incomplete. Inuit harvests before commercial whaling began (1200–1529 AD) were estimated at 11,435 whales, based on the abundance of whale bone at winter houses excavated by archaeologists. After 1500 AD, Inuit whaling declined, and the total estimated harvest between 1530 AD and the end of commercial whaling was 8,406 whales. Inuit whaling declined again after commercial whalers overharvested the population and only 65 whales are known to have been harvested (or struck and lost) from 1918–2009. The Inuit harvest statistics are based on scattered data and a number of assumptions, with some evidence that at least parts of the series are underestimated. Even if harvests were higher, they would have probably not been large enough to cause population declines. The long tradition of Inuit bowhead whaling was negatively impacted by commercial harvests. Combining all harvests from 1530–2009 AD results in a total estimated kill of some 70,000 whales (not including struck and lost whales and known gaps for some nations and eras), with most (88%) taken by commercial whalers. Data quality varies considerably by nation and era, and was assigned to a 3-point scale for reliability, with over half the harvest considered to be the least reliable. This is the most comprehensive summary and estimate of bowhead harvests for this region, but is still known to be incomplete and is based on a number of assumptions and disparate data sources.

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Section: Dutch Whalingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Commercial and subsistence harvests of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) in eastern Canada and West Greenland

Higdon¹

2023

JCRM

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“…This operation peaked in the 1730s, with up to 137 vessels sailing in 1732. English ships were heavily engaged in the bowhead whale fisheries in Greenland, with 90 whalers off the West Greenland coast in 1778 and 48 in 1815 (Duncan 1977(Duncan -1978Vaughan 1986). …”

Section: English Whalingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By 1721 they were employing 79 ships in Greenland and Davis Strait (Gulløv 1985, pp. 77-79;Vaughan 1986). According to Brandt (1940, p. 208), between 1670 and 1789 alone they killed 16 530 whales.…”

Section: German Whalingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comment on “Genetic analysis of 16th-century whale bones prompts a revision of the impact of Basque whaling on right and bowhead whales in the western North Atlantic”

Romero¹,

Kannada²

2006

Can. J. Zool.

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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]

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“…In his study of Inuit whaling on the Labrador coast Taylor (1988) reported that, while the Moravian mission diaries recorded 46 bowhead whales killed and landed by Inuit during the period 1773 to 1783, a further 23 "drift whales", i.e., dead animals probably harpooned and seriously wounded some distance away, were also salvaged during this same 11-year period. The Inuit of Hudson Strait may also have been recovering some "drift whales" in the eighteenth century, possibly including animals harpooned but lost by European whalers in the Davis Strait area, where the Dutch, in particular, were already very active (Vaughan, 1986;Ross, 1979). Some of these animals might conceivably have drifted west into Hudson Strait with the current which sets westwards along the north side of the strait.…”

Section: Procurement and Transport Of Baleenmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Eighteenth Century Trade between the Ships of the Hudson's Bay Company and the Hudson Strait Inuit

Barr¹

1994

ARCTIC

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From an early stage in the history of the Hudson's Bay Company, the captains of the company's ships annually received specific instructions to make contact and trade with the Inuit of southern Baffin Island in the vicinity of the Upper and Middle Savage Islands in Hudson Strait during their annual voyages from London to the posts in Hudson Bay. Documents for a 20 year period in the mid-eighteenth century reveal that a wide range of trade goods, primarily tools and hunting weapons, was provided to each captain for this purpose. A comparison of the volume of trade goods with the probable number of Inuit involved in this trade suggests that the goods were probably thereafter disseminated through inter-group trade throughout a wide area of the Canadian Arctic. Baleen from the bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) represented an important item being traded by the Inuit in return, at least from 1737 until the end of the century. For the period 1737-1778 the average amount of baleen traded by the Inuit of southern Baffin Island was 1237 lb (559.7 kg), i.e., approximately the amount of baleen produced by an average adult bowhead whale. For this period the baleen from this source represented 78% of all the baleen handled by the Hudson's Bay Company. The records of the Hudson Strait trade thus provide some indication of the minimum numbers of bowheads being taken annually by the Inuit of the north shore of Hudson Strait in the eighteenth century and the amount of hunting effort being devoted to whaling.

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Bowhead whaling in Davis Strait and Baffin Bay during the 18th and 19th Centuries

Cited by 5 publications

References 6 publications

Commercial and subsistence harvests of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) in eastern Canada and West Greenland

Commercial and subsistence harvests of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) in eastern Canada and West Greenland

Comment on “Genetic analysis of 16th-century whale bones prompts a revision of the impact of Basque whaling on right and bowhead whales in the western North Atlantic”

The Eighteenth Century Trade between the Ships of the Hudson's Bay Company and the Hudson Strait Inuit

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