The Rise & Fall of Antarctic Whaling
It was the Norwegian C.A. Larsen who first saw the potential in Antarctica for a highly profitable whaling industry. In 1904, he established the first Antarctic whaling station at Grytviken on South Georgia.It was the start of a multi-million pound industry in the Southern Ocean and one that developed very quickly. At South Georgia alone, whaling grew from one station and one catcher taking 195 whales in 1904 to six stations, 21 floating factories and 62 catchers taking 10,670 whales in 1912/13.
Grytviken Whaling Station
As the whaling industry increased, it began to deplete the whale stocks and systematically moved from one species to another as numbers were exhausted. Eventually the stocks were so reduced that Grytviken closed in 1965 as the whaling industry in the Southern Ocean collapsed because of the almost total exhaustion of the whale stocks.
In all, Grytviken processed over 54,000 whales from 1904 to 1965 yielding 458,000 tonnes of oil worth over £25 million. Additionally, 200,000 tonnes of meat and bone meal were produced.
The closed whaling station at Grytviken still survives today.
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