MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Whaling 1950 statistics, 30.000 hunted in Antarctica, despite “poor season in South Georgia”

“The weather had been very bad around South Georgia during the month with the result that “whaling has been particularly poor.” (Pic SG Museum)

The reporting of fisheries statistics for illex and loligo and varieties of finfish in 2025 are considered perfectly standard, although sensitive, but almost a century ago the reporting of whaling statistics in Antarctica was the norm too even when the large numbers caused some dismay.

Will we in another century's time look back at the Penguin of the 21st century and be just as wide eyed that we exploited certain species?

Penguin newspaper April 2 1930 by MercoPress on Scribd

According to the Penguin newspaper of 2 April 1930, the weather had been very bad around South Georgia during the month with the result that “whaling has been particularly poor.”

“The factories in the ice [however] appear to be doing very well yet and are still able apparently to obtain a certain amount of shelter from the pack ice.

”The number of whales taken by the end of the season will be terrific, over 30,000 I estimate. I think the end of whaling in these waters, unless some stops are taken to curtail it, is in sight. I think at the present rate of killing another three-seasons will just about finish.