Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
saved whales from further decimation was the intervention of war and the capture by the
German navy of the Norwegian pelagic whaling fleet. Between 1941 and 1945, only one
factory ship was operating in the Southern Ocean.
The final phase of Antarctic whaling occurred in the post-war period, which witnessed some
evidence of commercial revival but with tighter regulations of the industry. Importantly, the
American commander in post-war Japan, Douglas MacArthur, authorized the beginning of
large-scale Japanese Antarctic whaling. In 1946, the International Convention on the
Regulation of Whaling was signed and the International Whaling Commission (IWC)
created. The IWC was designed to impose controls over the industry and introduced a quota
system based on the so-called Blue Whale Unit (BWU) - a BWU represented one Blue
Whale, two Fin Whales, and/or six Sei Whales. Notwithstanding those endeavours to
regulate, whaling in South Georgia resumed, and over the next 20 years 3 onshore stations,
20-odd factory ships, and assorted catchers hauled in over 30,000 whales per year. One
difficulty the IWC faced during this period was controlling a remote industry in a huge
hunting ground, which was loosely regulated at best. The 1954 film
Hell Below Zero
provided a vivid depiction of offshore whaling in the Southern Ocean.
What was to change the whaling industry was not tighter regulation but commercial
alternatives coupled with changing public opinion in Europe and North America in the
main. Tropical vegetable oil plantations began to replace whale oil in the post-war period,
especially for European consumers. Norwegian companies, anticipating further decline in
whale oil, withdrew from South Georgia in 1964 and left the industry to a collection of
Japanese and Soviet enterprises. At the end of the 1960s, catches dropped to about 12,000
whales, and the onshore stations in South Georgia were abandoned. This decline, coupled
with mounting anti-whaling sentiment, had geopolitical implications for Britain. With the
decline of the Norwegian whaling industry, Britain decided that a small party of Ro
territories including the Australiansgovernmentyal Marines would need to be permanently
located at South Georgia. The strategic rationale was to deter Argentina from invading and
occupying the island. In April 1982, an Argentine scrap metal merchant and accompanying
party triggered naval operations, which led to the invasion and occupation of the Falkland
Islands on 2 April 1982. British and Argentine forces confronted one another on South
Georgia, and British Antarctic Survey (BAS) scientists (who were also living and working
there) were caught up in the furore. After the Argentines were defeated, BAS established a
new base on the island and the UK military presence was scaled back.
While whaling disappeared from South Georgia, the IWC - spurred on by anxieties
regarding whale stocks - recommended moratoria and restrictions, culminating in the
1985-6 proposal for a complete prohibition on Southern Ocean whaling. Japan and the
