They were hunted to illuminate Europe and today they recolonize the South Atlantic: the story of the southern right whales

Specimens of the huge southern right whale arrived days ago near the coast of the Valdes Peninsula, in the province of Chubut, Argentina. Others will continue to arrive in the coming months, and until December they will breed or have young. This population of whales continues to dazzle in the Southwest Atlantic Ocean, and is slowly recovering after facing four centuries of slaughter by ships coming from Portugal, Spain, France, the United States, England and the former Soviet Union.

This is demonstrated by the first historical reconstruction of the catches of the southern right whale that was published in the specialized journal Scientific Reports. It allowed us to know more accurately how many individuals of whales were there before hunting and commercial exploitation, what was the minimum amount it reached, and how many are there now.

The first record of whaling dates back to 1602 and was by people who came by boat from Portugal. The captures were made manually. “The Basque method was first used,” Dr. Alejandra Romero, a scientist at the Center for Applied Research and Technology Transfer in Marine Resources “Almirante Storni” (CIMAS-CONICET) and professor at the National University of Comahue, told Infobae.

The hunters went with small rowing boats and used harpoons by hand. They were able to capture and kill about fifty whales a year, and in doing so they suffered injuries and frostbite that put their own lives in danger.

“Since these whales - which also inhabited the North Atlantic Ocean (in this case it is the boreal right whale), and close to the shores of New Zealand - are tame and calm, humans could approach without feeling threatened. When they are captured, they float. These characteristics caused them to be called 'frank', but it allowed them to be intensely exploited,” said the researcher. They are animals that measure between 14 and 16 meters and weigh about 50 tons.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, whaling ships with American, British, French and Spanish flags were added, and they were already using more modern hunting methods that allowed them to capture animals and process them inside boats.

Why was there so much interest in whaling at that time? asked Infobae. “The body of whales has a high fat index. They were hunted to get their fat. Grease produced an oil that served as fuels for lighting, heating and cooking lamps in Europe. And they didn't just capture right whales for that purpose: they also hunted other species from other regions of the world,” Romero said.

To make the historical reconstruction and then model population dynamics, the researchers turned to different sources of information, from interviews with members of museums from different countries to the United Kingdom's customs books, which recorded imports by hand.

After the investigation, they estimated that there were 58,000 individuals of southern right whales in the Western South Atlantic at the beginning of the 17th century. But with commercial exploitation there were only 2,000 copies left in 1830. In 1935, the species became protected by international standards, and hunting was banned. But not everyone respected the rule.

In 1962, ships flying the flag of the former Soviet Union illegally captured 1335 whales in international waters. “Illegal captures slowed the population's recovery. Today there are 5,000 individuals of right whales throughout the Western Atlantic. That is, for the time being, only 8.6% of the original population that existed before the exploitation recovered,” Romero stressed. In Argentina, the southern right whale has been declared a “natural monument” by law since 1984.

The whale population has mainly two breeding and breeding sites in the South Atlantic. One is the area near the Valdes Peninsula, in Argentinian Patagonia, and the other is located near the coast of Santa Catarina state, Brazil.

In order to feed themselves, animals migrate to areas that are close to the South Georgia Islands. “Not all specimens that make up the population of the South Atlantic visit the Peninsula Valdés area between April and December. Only 35% of the total arrive, and the movements they make through satellite monitoring are being studied,” Romero said. This monitoring is currently available here to the general public through a collaboration between different public agencies and environmental organizations from different countries.

Although slow, the population recovery is good news. “The fact that his recovery is underway means that we are on the right track and we must continue the current effort without allowing hunting. More studies will be needed to deepen the impact of climate change and current navigation,” Romero said.

As a result of the recovery, there is a possibility that tourists and residents of more coastal cities in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina could enjoy whale watching. “Right whales are recolonizing areas that centuries ago occupied near the coasts of Brazil, Uruguay, and the shores of Rio Negro and the province of Buenos Aires,” Romero said.

Over the past fifteen years, more right whales were observed near the town of Las Grutas, in Río Negro, and this led to the fact that since 2012 the wildlife watching service has been offered marina on boats between May and October. There you can also see whales with penguins, sea lions, and birds.

Raúl González, from the Almirante Storni Center for Applied Research and Technology Transfer in Marine Resources (CIMAS-CONICET) and lecturers from the National University of Comahue, Enrique Crespo, director of the Center for the Study of Marine Systems (CESIMAR-CONICET), also participated in the reconstruction of the history of whales. Mariano Coscarella, from Conicet and the National University of Patagonia San Juan Bosco, Juan Carlos Pedraza, from the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences of the University of Buenos Aires, and Grant Adams, who is pursuing a doctorate at the University of Washington, United States.

Consulted by Infobae, Guillermo Harris, senior conservationist at Wildlife Conservation Society Argentina (WCS Argentina), commented: “The study published in Scientific Reports is extremely important for the conservation of the southern right whale. Researchers show that during the first half of the 19th century the population was about to be annihilated. Later, during the 20th century, hunting was banned, but there were also illegal catches. This implies a wake-up call because it shows that there may be illegal whaling. While the population of the southern right whale is recovering, it is still far from reaching the number of individuals it originally had. We must continue with measures to protect this species.”

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