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The sei whale: Population biology, ecology and management
Biological Conservation 45 (1988) 237-238
Book Reviews The Sei Whale: Population Biology, Ecology and Management. By Joseph Horwood. Croom Helm, London, 1987. 375pp. ISBN 0 7099 4786 0. Price: £29.50.
Canadian Inland Seas. Edited by I. P. Martini. Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam, 1986. 512 pp. ISBN 0 444 42683 3. Price: US$68.00. Is there any justification for reviewing these two apparently disparate books together, apart from the facts that they arrived on my desk at approximately the same time, they both cost about the same amount, and both were obviously supplied to the publisher as camera-ready copy? Well, yes there is. Horwood's book will tell you almost everything that is known about the population biology of the third largest creature on this planet. Martini's contains detailed descriptions of the geology, climate, oceanography, glaciology and biology of Hudson Bay. This makes them of considerable specialist interest, but what may make them more interesting to readers of this journal is the context in which the studies they describe were made. The sei whale was relatively unimportant as a quarry for commercial whaling until the early 1960s, mostly because it produced much less meat and oil than blue and fin whales and because of its erratic appearance within range of coastal whaling stations. However, within a 15-year period, from 1960 to 1975, very large numbers (over 20000 animals in some years) were taken in the Antarctic and North Pacific by the Japanese and Soviet whaling fleets. The regulations of the International Whaling Commission required that detailed information was recorded on each whale caught. So, one might hope that it would at least be possible to determine the effects of these catches on the different stocks with some accuracy. However, Horwood shows that it is only possible to conclude that the stocks were very substantially reduced by these massive catches. Controversy still rages over whether or not the sei whale populations responded in a density-dependent way to these enormous catches and the earlier depletion of some of their major competitors. This is a salutary lesson on how difficult it is to interpret data collected as part of a commercial operation. Amongst other things the wetlands of Hudson Bay produce a very high proportion of the migratory waterfowl that are shot by Canadian and US 237 Biol. Conserv. 45 (1988)--© 1988 Elsevier Applied Science Publishers Ltd, England. Printed in Great Britain
Book Reviews The Sei Whale: Population Biology, Ecology and Management. By Joseph Horwood. Croom Helm, London, 1987. 375pp. ISBN 0 7099 4786 0. Price: £29.50.
Canadian Inland Seas. Edited by I. P. Martini. Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam, 1986. 512 pp. ISBN 0 444 42683 3. Price: US$68.00. Is there any justification for reviewing these two apparently disparate books together, apart from the facts that they arrived on my desk at approximately the same time, they both cost about the same amount, and both were obviously supplied to the publisher as camera-ready copy? Well, yes there is. Horwood's book will tell you almost everything that is known about the population biology of the third largest creature on this planet. Martini's contains detailed descriptions of the geology, climate, oceanography, glaciology and biology of Hudson Bay. This makes them of considerable specialist interest, but what may make them more interesting to readers of this journal is the context in which the studies they describe were made. The sei whale was relatively unimportant as a quarry for commercial whaling until the early 1960s, mostly because it produced much less meat and oil than blue and fin whales and because of its erratic appearance within range of coastal whaling stations. However, within a 15-year period, from 1960 to 1975, very large numbers (over 20000 animals in some years) were taken in the Antarctic and North Pacific by the Japanese and Soviet whaling fleets. The regulations of the International Whaling Commission required that detailed information was recorded on each whale caught. So, one might hope that it would at least be possible to determine the effects of these catches on the different stocks with some accuracy. However, Horwood shows that it is only possible to conclude that the stocks were very substantially reduced by these massive catches. Controversy still rages over whether or not the sei whale populations responded in a density-dependent way to these enormous catches and the earlier depletion of some of their major competitors. This is a salutary lesson on how difficult it is to interpret data collected as part of a commercial operation. Amongst other things the wetlands of Hudson Bay produce a very high proportion of the migratory waterfowl that are shot by Canadian and US 237 Biol. Conserv. 45 (1988)--© 1988 Elsevier Applied Science Publishers Ltd, England. Printed in Great Britain