Twentieth-Century Shore-Station Whaling in Newfoundland and Labrador (review)

Newfoundland and Labrador's association with cod fishing and sealing has been well documented. In Twentieth-Century Shore-Station Whaling in Newfoundland and Labrador, Anthony B. Dickinson and Chesley W. Sanger explore the province's lesser-known shore-station whaling industry between 1898 and 1972. This study synthesizes nearly two decades' worth of the authors' previous writings on the subject, expands our knowledge of Newfoundland's affinity to the sea, and locates the province within the context of the modern global whaling industry.

Dickinson and Sanger offer two major arguments. First, they argue that whaling constituted an important economic supplement for those it employed, and that the variety of and demand for whale products (including oil, baleen, bone, meat, and 'guano') changed over time. Second, they argue that Newfoundland's whaling industry adhered to a global pattern of whale exploitation, operational expansion, resource depletion, and industry closure. By highlighting the connections to Norwegian and British Columbian whaling operations, the authors demonstrate that whaling off Newfoundland and Labrador was largely an appendage of the modern Norwegian industry.

This study has three major sections. The first explores the development, expansion, consolidation, and decline of the modern Newfoundland whaling industry between 1898 and 1917. Whaling became increasingly popular after a serious decline in the Newfoundland cod fishery during the 1880s, and investors in the failing Norwegian whaling industry took notice. Commercial shore-station whaling (fuelled primarily by Norwegian capital, technology, and expertise) began off Newfoundland in 1898. Whale stocks proved plentiful and profitable, and the industry expanded rapidly: additional Norwegian/Newfoundland-funded companies, stations, and catchers appeared each season; total catches and returns steadily increased; and the shore-stations employed large numbers of outport residents. However, total catches and returns plummeted after 1904, forcing many out of the industry. Newfoundland's whaling industry was closed in 1917 owing to excessive hunting without closely regulated licence or catch quotas.

The second section illustrates how investors and whalers used geographic and financial mobility to move from failing sites to new locales. The chapter entitled 'Expansion and Decline at Aquaforte' offers a case study of the Ellefsens, a Norwegian family who established a Newfoundland whaling station in 1901. Their Aquaforte operation was one of Newfoundland's most successful shore-stations, but it was not immune to the post-1904 decline and the family closed their operation in 1907. Some investors and whalers went to British Columbia following the Newfoundland industry's downturn. Norwegian investors in the Newfoundland industry were recruited, and Newfoundland whalers often trained shore labourers. Like Newfoundland's operation in 1898, the British Columbian industry's birth in 1905 stemmed from an industry decline elsewhere.

The final section examines how various investors attempted to sustain the Newfoundland whaling industry between 1918 and 1972. The Scottish whaling firm Christian Salvesen consolidated control over most of Newfoundland's whaling equipment and stations during the late 1930s, thus enabling the industry to survive the Great Depression and Second World War. The industry was revived during the 1950s to render whale meat into feed for Newfoundland fox and mink farms. Subsequent Japanese demands for whale meat enabled the industry to survive until 1972 when a Canadian government moratorium banned the hunt. Resource exploitation, low capital investments, high operating costs, and unstable markets were key factors in the 'Final Demise' of Newfoundland's whaling industry.

Twentieth-Century Shore-Station Whaling in Newfoundland and Labrador is a valuable study that illuminates an important segment of the province's past. Dickinson and Sanger write clearly; use charts to clarify whaling industry statistics to good effect; and provide ample visual illustrations to show how whale hunts were conducted. However, there is a narrative imbalance within the study. While the period from 1898 to 1904 is comprehensively discussed throughout half the text, the period between 1905 and 1972 receives a concise treatment that is noticeably thin on detail and analysis. The Aquaforte chapter also seems misplaced and...