B. Whangamumu.

There is much less information on sightings off this locality than for Cook Strait, and for most seasons a record of catch is the only specific data still available. The number of humpbacks caught from Whangamumu per season between 1912 and 1931 is shown in Table I. For these years the humpback catch totalled 963, with an average of 48 per season, and the catch of other species was negligible. Although whaling with a steam chaser and explosive harpoon commenced in 1910 the diversion of the vessel for periods during the first two years to test other areas reduced the catching period from Whangamumu during the 1910–1912 seasons. Prior to 1910 humpbacks had been caught in steel nets in small numbers only, and from 1890 until the cessation of effective whaling in the area in 1931 the total humpback catch would not greatly exceed 1,000 whales.

Until the power driven chaser was introduced whaling was confined to the June to August season and included only north-bound humpbacks, but from 1912 onwards whaling was carried out in two seasons each year and both north-bound and south-bound humpbacks were caught.

The totals as recorded by the New Zealand Marine Department gave no indication of the relative density of the two migrating groups, but through the courtesy of Mrs. D. Cook, of Russell, who allowed me to examine account books held by her, it was possible to calculate the size of the catch from each group from the bonuses paid to gunners in each of the winter and spring seasons in the years 1919–1931. Of the 635 humpbacks caught in these twelve years, 333 were from north-bound whales caught in the winter months and 302 from south-bound whales caught in the spring months. This shows no significant difference in the size of the catches from each of the migrating groups, and as can be seen from Table I the greater number of whales occurred in either the winter or the summer seasons at random.

It is not possible to use these figures as a basis for comparing the density of humpbacks passing this area with those passing Cook Strait, as a single steam chaser only was used for many of the seasons at the former, and an average of three high powered launches from the latter, while the hunting techniques were also somewhat different in the two areas. The only available data that can be used for comparison are the records of sightings for three winter and two summer seasons as recorded in a log for 1898 now held by Mr. G. Cook, Auckland, and for the 1930 and 1931 seasons from logs held by Mrs. D. Cook, of Russell. These record the following: For winter seasons 1898, 117; 1930, 51; 1931, 108; and for summer seasons 1930, 64 plus three suckling calves; 1931, 74 plus 14 suckling calves. Logs for the intervening years have unfortunately been destroyed. The little data available show, however, that the size of the north-bound humpback population passing close to Whangamumu is not strikingly different from that passing through Cook Strait. Although the sighting records suggest that the size of the south-bound group is smaller than the north-bound group at Whangamumu, the catch data for 12 seasons discussed above show that over a longer period the difference was slight, whereas the Cook Strait data show that few humpbacks pass through the latter area on their south-bound migration.

Commencing dates for the three winter seasons recorded were June 10, 18 and 12 respectively, the mid-point for sightings in 1898 and 1931 were July 8 and July 28, while the last sightings of north-bound whales occurred in these two years on August 2 and August 25. Although these data fall within the same time range as for some of the seasons at Tory Channel (see Fig. 4), ex-whalers from Whangamumu state that the seasons usually commenced about one to two weeks later than Tory Channel in any one season. The mid-point for the two seasons combined is July 12.