Whaling and Sealing in Maori Times

1. Whaling and Sealing in Maori Times By Jasleen Oberoi, Danielle Gamlena, Hubert Januszczak, Andrew Power and Rama Yogakumar!!!!!!!!!

2. What is Whaling and Sealing • Whaling is the hunting of whales primarily for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales. Industrial whaling emerged with organized fleets in the 17th century; competitive national whaling industries in the 18th and 19th centuries; and the introduction of factory ships along with the concept of whale harvesting in the first half of the 20th century. • Seal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of seals.

3. Before Whaling and Sealing & How they Whaled and Sealed • Before whaling and sealing New Zealand had larger population of whales and seals that lived throughout the coasts. Maoris started sealing as soon as they made contact with Pakeha. • Some ways that they whaled and sealed: • They had a group of boats, which moved in on to the whales and seals and herded them on to the beach so they couldn’t swim. • Another way they caught whales was to throw harpoons with a semi-floating object like a blown-up seal bladder and followed the whale around until it got too tired and killed it.

4. Whaling and Sealing and some effects • Whaling:Whaling in New Zealand covered a period of about 172 years from 1792 to1964. During the first 50 years the industry was of genuine significance toNew Zealand, as it was the first externally financed and controlled staple industry in the country.It was significant for the symbiosis which developed between European/Pakeha New Zealanders and Maori.Through whaling, Maori were able to travel the oceans of the world and absorb a great range of skills which they brought back home. Above all, they learned English, the language of Pacific Whaling. Maori also traded using whaling by providing the wants of the whale fleets and therefore acquired iron tools, musket and gunpowder.

5. Whaling and Sealing and some effects • Sealing:Sealing and whaling were the earliest Pakeha commercial activities to flourish in New Zealand and were significant socially and politically as the ‘contact’ period between Maori and other cultures. From an economic perspective New Zealand sealing and whaling were a tiny part of a global commodity market. For example, many seal skins were sold on Asian markets. Sealing and whaling were operated by offshore companies and were largely ship based. The saleable products were skins, bones and oil. Seals in New Zealand had been hunted to the verge of extinction by 1830 and sealing was outlawed in 1926. Whaling continued and some large land based stations were built. The last station, Perano, closed after the killing of its last whale in December 1964 as Japanese and Russian whale fleets were over-fishing.

6. Uses of Whaling and Sealing • After Cook visited New Zealand (NZ), many ships arrived into the South Seas, in search of whales and seals. • Whales were slaughtered in thousands. Their carcasses were dragged ashore and the blubber was boiled to melt it down into oil. The oil then got used as lamp oil. This was a important job, because it provided people with light at the time where there was no electricity. • On the other hand, seals had a completely unnecessary reason. They were used for- Fashion. Seals were killed to death on rocks along the coasts of NZ. After this, their skins were salted and cured to be sent to Britain; where they were made into hats and cloaks. • The flubber inside the whale is usually the main cause for whaling. To insulate them from the cold, whales have a thick, dense layer of connective tissue and fat under their skin called blubber. Blubber can be used for all types of products, but is now not as commonly used. It is also a source of Vitamin D. • Whaling and Sealing were amongst the busiest industries in the late 18th Century and early 19th Century.

7. Other information • Europeans of all description came to New Zealand during these periods: Dutch, French, Russian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, British and even North Americans. • Whalers and sealers mainly caught fur seals, humpback whales, sperm whales, minke whales bryde’s whales and southern right whales. • Locations of sites include: Northland, Auckland, East Coast/Hawkes Bay, Wellington, Nelson/Marlborough, Otago and Southland. As whales, would pass here through different seasons of the year, Pakehas would set up stations in these places with the consent of the Maori chief. • Dragging whales back to shore could take up to 14 hours of hard rowing depending on the size and the weight.

8. Table of Ships

9. Species of Whales and Seals Humpback Whale Southern Right Whale Sperm Whale Fur Seal Colony

10. New Zealand Map Shows where the species where located in    Light Blue: Humpback Whales Grey: Sperm Whales Green: Bryde’s Whales Dark Blue: Southern Right Whales

11. PICTURES