North Atlantic The first written records attest to the active hunting of minke whales off Norway by 1100 A.D. By 1240 they began utilizing iron darts fired from crossbows that had been treated with the tissue of dead sheep infected with the bacterium
Clostridium. Introducing this infectious agent to a wound weakened the whale and after a couple days the men would return and lance it to death. This method of whaling continued to be used until the 1880s. Norwegian catching of minke whales from small fishing vessels started off
Møre, western Norway, in the 1920s. It had spread north to
Salten by 1932 and all along the Norwegian coast and to
Bear Island,
Spitsbergen, and the
Barents Sea by the late 1930s – the latter area, particularly the southeastern region east to Novaya Zemlya, was one of the most important whaling grounds, with over 2,400 whales being caught there in 1949. Licenses were introduced in 1938. A westward expansion to the waters north and east of Iceland occurred; by 1966 they had reached the
Denmark Strait and western Greenland just two years later. At its peak over 300 vessels participated in the hunt each season, but this declined to about 50 in the 1980s. By the end of the Second World War the catch was at nearly 2,000 per annum, peaked at 4,338 in 1958, and declined to 2,307 by 1970. Over 125,000 have been caught by Norwegian commercial whaling since 1938. In accordance with the moratorium against commercial whaling voted on by the
International Whaling Commission in 1982 and taking effect in 1986, commercial catches ceased in 1987 (albeit only temporarily). From 1988 to 1990 and again from 1992 to 1994 Norway caught minke whales under scientific permit and resumed commercial whaling of the species in 1993. They typically catch 450 to 600 individuals a year, with 464 being taken in 2012. Minke whales were first caught off Iceland in 1914 by the powered 4-ton fishing vessel
Margrét IS 314, which was mounted with a 1.5 inch bore harpoon gun – this was replaced in 1923 with a 2-inch bore harpoon gun manufactured in Norway. Later other vessels joined the trade. Operations were limited to coastal waters, normally within 30 nautical miles of shore. The season extended from the beginning of March to late November, even to early December at times; though most were caught between April and October. They were mainly caught for their meat, with a minimum of 3,362 being taken between 1914 and 1980. Catch limits were introduced in 1977. The average annual catch rose from 105 from 1966 to 1970, to 137 from 1971 to 1975, and finally to 200 from 1976 to 1980. The last were caught in 1985 before whaling resumed in 2003 under scientific permit, with 200 being taken from 2003 to 2007. Commercial whaling for minkes was renewed in 2006, with a total catch of 296 between 2006 and 2012. A Newfoundland whaling company began catching "little piked whales" (minke whales) off northeastern Newfoundland in 1947, taking 16 in its first year and 41 in 1948. A total of 812 minke whales were caught off Newfoundland between 1947 and 1972, with a peak of 97 in 1972. They were captured by one to three wood-hulled vessels that had a 50 mm harpoon cannon mounted on their bows. Whales were towed to a shore station for flensing. They were first caught in
Conception,
Bonavista, and
Trinity bays, but later catches (1966 to 1972) were mainly made in Trinity Bay itself. The season extended from May to September (rarely October), with peak catches being made in June and July. A small number – 51 between 1962 and 1967 – were also caught off
Nova Scotia, with the season lasting from June to August. An additional 4,307 minke whales were caught off Greenland between 1985 and 2012, 4,070 off western Greenland and a paltry 237 off eastern Greenland. The average annual catch during this period has usually been between 150 and 190 whales. A total of 97 were caught off the
Faroe Islands between 1960 and 1971, with a peak of 32 in 1968. One was also taken off Portugal in 1951.
North Pacific There is no evidence minke whales were caught in Japan during the harpoon and net whaling eras. The small-type catcher boat
Yuko-maru 7 GRT caught the first minkes out of
Akukawa in 1930. In the first half of the 1930s, about 20-30 was taken per year out of this port. Minke whaling soon spread to the port of
Kamaishi (1938), on the northeast coast of
Honshu;
Ogawajima (about 1951), on the west coast of
Kyushu; and to Wakasa Bay and
Aomori (both by 1957), the former on the west coast and the latter on the north coast of Honshu. An average of 23 catcher boats – each of which averaged about 23 tons between 1952 and 1986 – were involved each year between 1950 and 1986, from a peak of 80 in 1950 to a low of seven from 1973 to 1978 – these boats also caught other species, mainly
giant beaked whales,
short-finned pilot whales, and
killer whales. As the number of boats declined the average tonnage increased dramatically, from 14.6 in 1952 to 39 in 1982. In 1979, nine catchers averaged about 360 horsepower – they ranged from 15.2 tons and 150 horsepower for the tiny
Katsu Maru (1978–1986) to the 36.99-ton
Koei Maru No. 7 at 450 horsepower. The largest was the 47.77-ton
Sumitomo Maru No. 31, which operated from 1982 to 1986. These vessels used harpoon guns of 50 mm caliber or less. Because of their small size, limited cruising range, and inability to work during inclement weather, catchers were restricted to within 50 nautical miles of their home port in the 1950s, while the vast majority operated within 80 nautical miles of their home ports or designated unloading ports (for Hokkaido) during the period 1977 to 1987. In 1968 small motorboats were introduced, which scared the whales into swimming quickly at the surface, making them easier to track and exhausting them in the process – this allowed them to be more easily killed as well. The earliest were long and 2 tons with 65-80 horsepower outboard engines; later boats with 165 horsepower were utilized. The number of catchers using motorboats increased rapidly from 1968 to 1972; by 1979 they all used them. Several hundred minkes were caught each year, with the peak being reached in 1956, when 532 were taken. A total of 13,334 were taken by Japanese coastal whaling between 1948 and 1987. Most were caught off
Sanriku and on the
Okhotsk Sea side of
Hokkaido, with the Pacific side of Hokkaido gaining some importance by the early 1970s. They were seldom caught off the west coast of Honshu (off
Tottori, in Tsuruga Bay, and
Toyama Bay), which was abandoned by the mid-1970s. Few were taken on the
Sea of Japan side of Hokkaido as well. They were formerly captured off western Kyushu and the south coasts of Honshu and
Shikoku, but catching in those regions ceased by 1965 due to the scarcity of whales. The first minkes of the season were caught off western Kyushu and the Sea of Japan side of Honshu, where peak catches occurred from March to May and March to April, respectively; from there effort shifted to the Okhotsk Sea side of Hokkaido and Sanriku, where catches peaked in May for the former area and from April to May in the latter area. Effort was finally diverted to the Pacific side of Hokkaido, where peak catches were made from July to September. The season as a whole extended from February to October. Commercial catches ended in 1987. In 1994, Japan began catching minke whales in the western North Pacific under scientific permit. Under the title of JARPN (Japanese Whale Research Program under Special Permit in the North Pacific), up to 100 whales were caught each year by a pelagic fleet consisting of the 7,198 to 7,575 gross ton factory ship
Nisshin Maru and two to three sighting/sampling vessels – including
Toshi Maru No. 25 (739.92 gross tons, 1994–1999),
Toshi Maru No. 18 (758.33 gross tons, 1994–1998),
Kyo Maru No. 1 (812.08 gross tons, 1995–1999), and
Yushin Maru (720 gross tons, 1999) – until 1999. A total of 498 minke whales were caught. After a two-year feasibility study, JARPN II began in 2002, also taking up to 100 whales per year with a pelagic fleet consisting mainly of the same vessels –
Nisshin Maru was enlarged to 8,030 gross tons in 2006 and
Yūshin Maru No. 2 (747 gross tons) and
Yūshin Maru No. 3 (742 gross tons) replaced
Toshi Maru No. 25 and
Kyo Maru No. 1 in 2003 and 2008, respectively – but expanding its operations to include a coastal component using three to four small-type sampling vessels – mainly
Taisho Maru No. 28 (47.31 gross tons, 2002–2012),
Sumitomo Maru No. 31 (32 gross tons, 2002–2010),
Katsu Maru No. 7 (32 gross tons, 2002–2012), and
Koei Maru No. 75 (46 gross tons, 2003–2010) – with a total of up to 120 individuals being caught off Sanriku in the spring and off
Kushiro, on the Pacific side of Hokkaido, in the fall. This research program continues to the present. Whaling for minke whales off Korea began in the early 1930s, when they were opportunistically caught by vessels targeting larger species. The number of boats used per year ranged from 13 (1967–68, 1983–84) to 24 (1965), with 21 per annum between 1975 and 1982. Their average tonnage and horsepower increased from 56 (1971) to 74.5 tons (1982) and from about 220 (1971) to nearly 539 horsepower (1982). In 1982, they ranged from the diminutive
Gu Pok, only 18.3 tons and a mere 45 horsepower, to
Tae Won and
Jin Yang 5 – each nearly 99 tons – and
Chung Gu 1,
Chung Gu 2 and
U Seung 3, all three with 1,000 horsepower. Minkes were permitted to be landed for flensing at the main whaling stations of
Ulsan, on the east coast, and Ucheango, on the west coast, as well as Jukbyeon, Kuryongpo, Heusando, Daichangdo, and
Cheju. By the early 1960s a few hundred were being caught each year. The catch increased from 715 in 1970, to 882 in 1973, to a peak of 1,033 and 1,018 in 1977 and 1978. Minkes were caught almost year-round (February to December), with the most important whaling ground being the central
Yellow Sea from March to April. From there, catches extended to the
Korean Strait in May and the southwestern Sea of Japan from June to October. Most were caught from April to June, with a peak in the Yellow Sea in April and in the Sea of Japan in June. They were also caught in the northern Yellow Sea and off the east coast of
North Korea (before 1936), where peak catches were reached from May to June and from April to June, respectively. About 16,000 were caught between 1940 and 1986, when hunting of minke whales ceased. A small number of minke whales were caught by the
Soviets in the western North Pacific, with 21 being taken by pelagic fleets between 1933 and 1979 and an additional 94 being caught by catchers operating out of the
Kuril Island land stations – the annual catch in the latter region never exceeded nine or ten whales (1951, 1954, and 1956).
Southern Hemisphere Few dwarf minke whales have been reported taken by whaling operations. Thirteen were caught off
Durban, South Africa, between 1970 and 1973. Nearly all of them (12 of 13, or 92%) were taken in the first half of the season (April to June), over three-quarters within 30 nautical miles of shore. Of 1,789 minke whales caught in the
Southern Ocean by the Japanese between 1987–88 and 1992–93, only 16 were dwarf minkes (one was caught in 1987–88, five in 1988–89, three in 1989–90, four in 1990–91, and three in 1992–93). These were taken from December to March between the latitudes of 55°22'S and 65°04'S and the longitudes of 111°26'E and 178°12'E. An additional 180 minke whales (47 males, 133 females) which had flippers with a "clear white band" were taken by Japanese expeditions in the sub-Antarctic between 1972–73 and 1976–77, with a peak of 69 in 1975–76. == Other mortality ==