Shore Whaling in St. Vincent Island, West Indies

Demographic and Geographic Patterns of Cetacean-based Food Product Consumption and Potential Mercury Exposure within a Caribbean Whaling Community

“…Some respondents perceive a "seasonality" regarding cetacean-based food product availability. While the Bequia whaling operation does, in fact, rely upon the seasonal migrations of humpback whales between the Eastern Caribbean and North Atlantic (Martin et al 1984;Stevick et al 1999Stevick et al , 2018, the Barroualliebased small cetacean operation shows no clear seasonal variation except for the short-term breaks in whaling activity during certain holidays and periods of hazardous weather (Adams 1973;Fielding 2018). The perceived seasonality in whaling among consumers may, rather, indicate seasonal variation to the distribution networks that bring cetacean-based food products throughout the country.…”

“…The second, based in the town of Barrouallie on the main island of St. Vincent, takes short-nned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) and other small cetaceans not managed by the IWC (Gillespie 2001). These include Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis), false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens), Fraser's dolphins (Lagenodelphis hosei), killer whales (Orcinus orca), Risso's dolphins (Grampus griseus), and spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris) (Adams 1973;Caldwell and Caldwell 1975;Fielding 2018). The two whaling operations in SVG produce meat that is consumed fresh, dried (often then rehydrated), or "doved" (cooked and stored in its own oil); blubber, which is consumed after having been "rendered" or heated until it expresses-and is then fried in-its oil; and oil itself, which is bottled and used as a health tonic and treatment for colds.…”

The origins and character of ‘aboriginal subsistence’ whaling: a global review

“…According to Adams (1971), American ship‐based operations in the Grenadines reached a peak in the 1860s and 1870s, and the first shore‐based whaling station was established on Bequia in about 1875. An editorial footnote to a paper by Adams (1973) on blackfish (Short‐finned Pilot Whale, Globicephala macrorhynchus ) whaling at Barrouallie, St Vincent (see below), challenged Adams’ emphasis on 19th‐century Yankee knowledge and technology, pointing to the whale fishery (for Humpbacks) established in Trinidad in the 1820s (Higman, 1973). Higman claimed that the Trinidad fishery was ‘based on local know‐how and the labour of blacks from Bermuda’.…”

“…Shore whaling at Barrouallie was pursued ‘intermittently’ from the early 2000s to 1931, when a permanent operation was established by a local resident, targeting mainly blackfish and, less importantly, Sperm and Killer Whales ( Physeter macrocephalus and Orcinus orca , respectively) (Adams, 1973, 1994). This hunt has been documented relatively well by Rathjen & Sullivan (1970), Caldwell & Caldwell (1971, 1975), Adams (1973, 1994) and Price (1985). Although the product markets for the Bequia and Barrouallie hunts overlap, the two are quite distinct (Caldwell & Caldwell, 1975).…”

“…From the start, most of the whale oil was exported while the meat (‘whale beef’) was distributed or sold for local consumption, either fresh or ‘corned’ (salted and dried). Judging by Adams’ (1971, 1973, 1975, 1994) descriptions (Fenger, 1913; Ward, 1988), the meat of both Humpbacks and blackfish was (and still is) considered highly palatable by the Afro‐Caribbean population of St Vincent and the Grenadines (Fig. 3).…”