WHALING to WATCHING - "Lest We Forget!"

WHALING  to  WATCHING 
"Lest We Forget!"

Neville Coleman    

For over a century the whaling nations of the world plundered the oceans, slaughtering hundreds of thousands of whales and bringing many species to the brink of extinction. Only then did people across the world rise up and declare the practice of whaling as being contrary to survival of their species and a barbaric enterprise
that had no place in today's world.

As it was all the products that came from whaling were already available in other forms and therefore it appeared that the mentality was based more about ancient traditional rights of KILLING these gentle giants, rather than any practical, or even business related reasons.

The only nation to continue killing whales today (for scientific purposes) is Japan who take a quota of Minke Whales every year in the waters of the Antarctic Ocean south of Australia. It is understood that these Minke Whales are sold as high priced gourmet food in the markets of Japan.

WHALING IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Although the Yankee Whalers had been operating in the Indian Ocean since 1789 and in the waters of southern Australia since 1828 it wasn't till 1829 when the first British settlers arrived at the Swan River Colony (now Fremantle W.A) that whaling began as one of the first viable industries in the fledging colony.

The targeted species were the Southern Right Whale Eubalaena australis and the Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae, both of which were numerous and formed groups along the coastline. The Right Whale was named as such due to it being rather slow swimming and due to its high concentration of oil tendered to float after being harpooned.

Once the centre of the Whaling industry, Albany, south Western Australia has developed its Whale Watching for Southern Right Whales and today it is a thriving in - season tourist attraction.( photo: Neville Coleman)



Over the next 50 years a number of whaling companies opened up but most were forced to close due to rising costs and the discovery of Petroleum oil in America which brought about the demise of dependence of whale oil.

However, steam driven ships and exploding harpoon guns introduced by the Norwegians saw an upsurge from 1912 and over 4000 whales were taken from Southern Australian waters.

The whales were no match for the engine driven whale chasers and were relentlessly pursued until exhausted. Explosive headed high - powered harpoon guns were the death knell for hundreds of thousands of whales. There was no escape. ( photo: Neville Coleman )

Awash in a sea of its own blood the whale coughs out its life force
and drowns from the inside out. ( Copyright Neville Coleman)

Even the Australian Government ran a whaling station for 5 years off central Western Australia from 1950. It was sold to "Nor-West Seafood's", which converted the station into a prawn -processing factory and today also operates whale and dolphin watching in season.

The Cheynes Beach Whaling Station at Frenchman's Bay at Albany, South West Australia began in 1952 and took between 900 and 1100 Humpbacks and Sperm whales a year, till the killing of Humpbacks was banned in 1963.

As the last whaling station in Australia it closed down in 1978 due to the non-viability of business and the growing public outcry.  The Cheynes Bay Whaling Station has been converted to a popular tourist attraction called Whale World which has a very versatile series of attractions including an real whale chaser and all the historical equipment, film theatre, information and museum.

"LEST WE FORGET"

For those who may have been too young to know what whaling was about and may wonder why some of us still pursue the prohibition of whaling throughout the world I have put together a series of historic images taken at Cheynes Whaling station in the 1960's which says it all.

Offshore view of the Cheynes Whaling Station showing the jetty (cat walk) and the loading ramp. Humpback Whale carcasses tied to the catwalk awaiting processing.( Copyright Neville Coleman)

On the flensing deck, the long knives of the "flensers" have sliced the blubber into sections.The back blubber being removed for rendering down to oil in the below deck vats. Every bit of the whale was used. Here the workers cut out the Baleen.( Copyright Neville Coleman)

The whalers made no discrimination between males or females, or pregnant females, or females with young calves, every whale got shot. Quite often a foetus was cut out of the females body.
( Copyright Neville Coleman)

Using razor sharp giant flensing knives the flensers carved away
the flesh to the very bone.( Copyright Neville Coleman)

The steam driven bone saw makes short work of the bones, which were ground up and used for fertiliser. The back blubber was torn of into huge strips and fed into the boiling down vats.
( Copyright Neville Coleman)

Whale meat was mostly exported to Japan, which had a thriving market. When the prices were down the whale meat was converted to whale meal and bagged up for fertilizer.
( Copyright Neville Coleman)

WHALE WATCHING

As humans we have come a long way in our appreciation of nature over the last 50 years and we have realised that there is more to the story of whales than out whaling counterparts ever knew, or cared.
Today, millions of people all over the world have the chance to learn and appreciate what wonderful creatures whales are. Even from a business point of view, the business of Whale Watching has surpassed the business of Whaling by many millions of dollars per annum and nobody has to kill anything.
However, just because a battle has been won it is no time to be complacent.  We must fight just as hard for the conservation of nature as we did against it.  There are still people who consider whales as just another dumb animal to be slaughtered and exploited at will and we will all need to be vigilant so as not to allow them to become a guiding force to the ignorant.
The traditional killers will die out in time. In the meantime we can all provide the means by which the majority continue to remember that whales are still being slaughtered and only those who care enough can put an end to it forever.

A multi million dollar industry, the Humpbacks at Hervey Bay Queensland have become a must see for most tourists. Individual whales appear to take a great interest in the humans Whale Watchers and will come right up to the side of the boats. ( Photos: Neville Coleman)

Once the centre of the Whaling industry, Albany, South Western Australia has developed its Whale Watching for Southern Right Whales and today it is a thriving
in - season tourist attraction. Being in a 5-metre boat with a giant Southern Right Whale at touching distance is an unbelievable experience.
( Photo: Neville Coleman)

 

Humpback Whale spy hopping alongside a Whale Watching boat off the
coast of Queensland.
( Photo: Neville Coleman)

To know that humans can bring together enough courage and empathy to protect nature against their own greed and killing instincts, gives hope that one day we can care about nature around us as well as the nature within us.

To stand beside the skeleton of the largest creature that ever existed in the entire world (Blue whale) and realise that we were only a hairs breath away from exterminating this life form, is a humbling experience.
(Photo:  Jorina van der Westhuizen)

To appreciate whales as creatures of the oceans, free and unhunted by humans, to live their lives and share their stories gives hope to the entire human race.  ( Photo: Neville Coleman)

Copyright Neville Coleman