right whale history
DID YOU KNOW? (right whale whaling history)
There are two theories on how the right whale got it's name. Although the first scenario is quoted the most often, both theories are equally valid.
- The first theory is that the right whale may have received its name from whalers who thought that it was the "right" whale to kill because it was correct commercially (oil came from whales in those days);
- The second theory is that the right whale was considered "proper" or "true" which meant typical of whales in general.
The black right whale was hunted as far back as the 1200's in the Bay of Biscay, off of Europe. The next targets were off Greenland. During the middle of the second millennium (roughly 1400 - 1700 AD), several populations in the northern hemisphere were completely wiped out. By the 1600's the fishery extended across the North Atlantic, and had expanded to include other slower swimming whales such as bowheads. Then the industry moved south. The peak of the 'take' of right whales in the southern hemisphere was in the early 1800's.
Until the mid-1800's, and the development of the harpoon gun, whaling was performed by men in open boats hand-throwing harpoons. All types of whales were not accessible. In order to be profitable, it was important to target the "right" species... in the case of Eubalena, they were relatively easy to approach, floated when dead, and provided huge quantities of valuable products such as heating & lubrication oil, soap, and baleen.
As whaling and seafaring methods became more sophisticated, and right whales more rare, whalers started targeting other species such as the great blue whales, fast fin whales, humpbacks, and others, which were out of reach before or presented some other challenge such as tending to sink when dead. As each species became rarer and thus less profitable to exploit, whalers moved on to another species, all the way down to the little minke.
If you want to know more about the politics of modern whaling, see our section on the International Whaling Commission (IWC).
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