. The Canadian field-naturalist. 1987 Gaskin: Updated Status of the Right Whale 297. Figure 2. Approximate distributions of the three subspecies of Eubalaena glacialis at the present time. The Basques began whaling for this species in the late 15th-early 16th centuries and within 100 to 150 years the diminishing size of stocks in the Bay of Biscay and adjacent areas led them to search first for Right Whales, then for Greenland Right Whales (European Bowhead) northwards to Norway and Spitsbergen, northwest to Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland- Labrador, and south to West Africa. The power of
. The Canadian field-naturalist. 1987 Gaskin: Updated Status of the Right Whale 297. Figure 2. Approximate distributions of the three subspecies of Eubalaena glacialis at the present time. The Basques began whaling for this species in the late 15th-early 16th centuries and within 100 to 150 years the diminishing size of stocks in the Bay of Biscay and adjacent areas led them to search first for Right Whales, then for Greenland Right Whales (European Bowhead) northwards to Norway and Spitsbergen, northwest to Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland- Labrador, and south to West Africa. The power of Britain, Holland and France expanded rapidly during the 16th-18th centuries, and the maritime strength of the Basque country dwindled into obscurity. No more Right Whales visited the Cantabrian Sea, however, and this eastern population must be considered virtually extinct. A bare handful of sightings have been made in the last three decades; some of these may be strays from the western North Atlantic. Whaling by North American colonists from land bases, together with the activities of the embryonic pelagic fleet of the 18th century (later to metamor- phose into the Yankee Sperm whaling [Physeter catadon] industry) maintained pressure on the western North Atlantic stocks. Nevertheless, this population has survived (unlike its eastern counter- part), although it is numerically still probably the rarest large baleen whale regularly occurring in Canadian waters. At most, the population size of the North Atlantic Right Whale is barely 10% of the combined eastern and western Arctic stocks of Bowhead Whales. This population has been the subject of several studies during the last three to four years, and its distribution and movements are reasonably well- known, at least in broad outUne (Figures 3 and 4). During the winter months the population seems to be dispersed, with some out on the continental shelf, some reaching Bermuda (rarely), and others remaining inshore and wandering as fa
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