Translation 2783

. .
• 252 .
•By the beginning of the 19th Century the Japanese were very
actively hunting grey whales of the Asiatic herd in the South Korea
region, and during the century the animals were practically wiped
out.
Hundreds of grey whales of the American herd were taken on
their wintering-grounds off the coast of California. It is estimated
that by the beginning of the 1930's only a few hundred grey whales
of the American herd survived.
At present the only hunting of grey
whales is that by the aborigines of Chukotka and Alaska.
there is insignificant.
The kill
From 1959 to 1969 316 grey whales were killed in U.S.A.
waters for scientific purposes.
From two or three tons up to 5-7 tons of edible oil used to
be obtained from a single grey whale.
size, -
In spite of the animals' small
the thickness of the blubber layer was 11-15 cm, and sometimes
even 19 cm. The meat is edible•and was used for human food.
.The weight of adults seldom exceeds 30 tons. The weight of
a female whose iength was 13.35 metres and whose maximum 'body height
was 270 cm was 31,466 kg, while'zhe weight of a female whose length
was 13.55 metres and whose maximum girth was 880 cm was 33,850 kg.
According to a survey made in 1970, the American herd is estimated
to contain from 8,000 to 13,000 grey whales.
•Hump-back Whale (Megautera nodosa)
. The northern part of the Pacific Ocean contains two herds of
hump-back whales -- Asiatic and American -- with different migration
routes (see Appendix 16).
The whales of the Asiatic herd spend the winter in the wajers
around the Bonin, Mariana, and Marshall Islands, i.e. they go south
almost to the Equator. Hump-back whales have been recorded as early
as December or January in the coastal waters of the island of Kyushu,
and in subsequent months they are seen even farther north.
It is believed that the whales travel northeastward from the
coasts of Japan into the open ocean with the North Pacific current,
and come out at the eastern Aleutian Islands. (this has been supported
by Japanese tagging records). From that area some of them move west' .
the Aleutian.chain, while others pass through the straits into along
the Bering Sea and appear in the Gulf of Anadyr; a Tew enter the
Chukchi Sea.
Olyutorskii Bay.
From the Gulf of Anadyr the whales Go south as far as