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About Newfoundland and Labrador
Whale Hunting in Newfoundland Waters
Whaling on the coast of the island of Newfoundland since European settlement does not have a long history. However, many readers will know that whaling has a much longer history on the coast of Labrador. Ships sailed from the Basque regions of France and Spain to hunt whales in the Strait of Belle Isle during the 1500s. Their headquarters was the port of Red Bay, where they had shore stations for processing the captured whales and rendering the blubber into oil. They also made barrels there for shipping the product.
The Basque people had a history of hunting whales closer to home in the Bay of Biscay, where the whales were probably over-hunted.
On the island of Newfoundland, whaling dates back to 1896, when the Cabot Whaling Coompany started operations in Snooks Arm in Notre Dame Bay and at Baelena in Hermitage Bay under the direction of Adolf Nielson. Nielson had directed the planning, construction, and operation of the fish hatchery on Dildo Island during the 1890s.
During the more recent period, the Newfoundland whaling industry reached its peak in 1904 when ten vessels operating from fourteen factories captured 1,275 whales. The whale population could not sustain this level of hunting and the catch declined quickly such that the industry essentially shut down in 1916 for two or three years. The industry never did recover to those earlier levels, although a number of attempts were made. To make matters worse, the market for the oil collapsed in the late 1930s. Along with the impact of WWII, these factors caused reduced whaling for more than a decade which permitted whale stocks to improve. By the latter half of the 1940s there was a resurgence of whaling activity around Newfoundland to meet a healthy market for the oil. Whale processing plants were established at Dildo and Williamsport to meet this demand. However, a Canadian moratorium on commercial whaling in 1972 forced the closure of the Dildo and Williamsport stations, thus signalling the final ending of more than 400 years of traditional and modern commercial whaling in Newfoundland and Labrador coastal waters.
The frequent appearance of whales in coastal waters has become an important factor in promoting regional cultural - heritage tourism. Revitalized stocks are encouraging the rapid growth of an entirely new tourist industry - whale watching.
For more information on whales in Newfoundland coastal waters take a look at the following books:
Guide to Sea Kayaking in Newfoundland & Labrador,
Land of a Thousand Whales (The), and
Whales and Dolphins in Newfoundland and Labrador
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