Part I: Seals teeth and whales ears - Scott Polar Research Institute ...

and 316 kg of meat and bone meal. Further experiments in 1956 and 1957 showed a
16% increase in oil produced and an average of about 250 kg of meal per seal.
At 1951 prices such higher yield amounts to a potential increase of about £73,000
(at 2004 prices = £1,362,000) in the value of the products of a season’s sealing, from
about £109,000 (£2,006,000) to some £182,000 (£3,350,000) if the carcasses could be
processed more efficiently. However, the biggest drawback was the small size of the
sealing vessels, which limited the volume of product per ‘trip’. So in order to process
the carcasses sealing methods would have had to be drastically changed, and the
only feasible solution seemed to be to use a small factory ship, with a fleet of smaller
vessels to capture and deliver the seals to it for processing. I explored this possibility
in 1951 with a senior executive of CAP (Mr Holland) and it was considered again in
1957 (by the then Station Manager, K S Pierce-Butler). Butler was the Magistrate in
my day – gamekeeper turned poacher! But it proved economically unsound, for
advantages (outlined earlier) of the existing traditional system would be lost.
Namely, the sealing industry as then prosecuted, was very economical and the
value of the product high, for the seal oil was equivalent to the highest grade of
whale oil in value. In terms of capital investment the costs were small, because the
shore-whaling factory was already up and running and improvements in its
equipment occurred from time to time for processing the whale catch. Also the
sealing vessels were obsolete, very old former whale catchers, the cost of which had
already been written-off. Their running costs were small – their fuel supplies arrived
by the same transport as the whale catchers’ fuel, and subject to similar bulk buying.
Their equipment was unsophisticated - until 1952 they were not even equipped with
modern communications equipment. Their manpower was in monetary terms
unskilled, though rich in experience. Because of the quality of the product it was part
of the marketting arrangements for the whale oil produced.
Other requirements. Two other requirements for full rational sustained exploitation are
first that the numbers of animals that may be removed without causing depletion are
known, and second the optimum target age-distribution of the catch is achieved.
Because of the elephant seals’ biology and energetics this was best be done by taking
adult males on the beaches in the breeding season. The optimum distribution of the
quota between the various beaches (zones) around the island must also be
determined. These assessments were expected to be subject to revision from time to
time in the light of the improvement of knowledge of the herd, which could be
expected from future observation, monitoring and research.
I made a preliminary study of these questions which was based on my necessarily
limited field observations and counts at South Georgia in 1951, discussions with CAP
and the sealers, and analysis of the company’s records. My research suggested that a
marked deterioration in the ‘health’ of the stock had taken place, which if not
reversed might be expected to continue causing serious depletion of the resource.
Following my recommendations (made in a thick report submitted to the Governor,
Miles Clifford, on my way home in 1952) the sealing regulations were altered in the
way best calculated to restore the herd to a sound condition. In particular: a method
by which the age composition of the catch could be assessed and followed from year
to year, was introduced; also a minimum length requirement; and attempts to restrict
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