Southern right whale depletion study
Peer-reviewed study models the rapid nineteenth-century depletion of southern right whales. Includes an 1839 whaling vessel China logged at Kāpiti in its tabulated sources.
The historical record
Southern right whale depletion study — Two Intense Decades of 19th Century Whaling Precipitated Rapid Decline of Right Whales around New Zealand and East Australia (2014) — Peer-reviewed study models the rapid nineteenth-century depletion of southern right whales. Includes an 1839 whaling vessel China logged at Kāpiti in its tabulated sources.
The whales behind the industry
Southern right whales were a major target of nineteenth-century shore whaling. Their seasonal movements brought them within reach of small boats launched from coastal stations, while oil and whalebone supplied export markets. The 1839 Kāpiti–Mana return of 466 tuns of black oil shows the scale of extraction in a single regional season, though it is not a direct count of animals killed.
Reading a depletion study
The peer-reviewed 2014 study Two Intense Decades of 19th Century Whaling Precipitated Rapid Decline of Right Whales around New Zealand and East Australia examines the wider population consequences of intense historical hunting. Its tabulated historical evidence includes the whaling vessel China at Kāpiti in 1839. The vessel record is a documentary clue, while population decline is a conclusion drawn from broader modelling and historical evidence. Sources: 2014 study identified in this book; Dieffenbach (1843), as cited in Prickett (2002).