The capture of the bowhead began in 1612 in the open waters between Spitzbergen and Greenland, and soon extended to Davis Strait and Baffin Bay. After two hundred years of unceasing pursuit this whale was driven to the remotest parts of the Arctic Ocean and was so nearly exterminated that now, when northern whaling has practically ended, its recovery in numbers is exceedingly doubtful. All this happened before the modern harpoon-gun diverted attention to the fin whales which during the last half-century have been so ruthlessly butchered by means of every invention at man’s disposal that their commercial extinction is inevitable within a very few decades if the slaughter is continued unchecked. By commercial extinction I mean decrease in the number of whales to the point when their pursuit will no longer be profitable. While this may not mean total extermination because of the great expense connected with the modern methods of capture and handling the carcasses, yet the whales will have been so reduced in numbers that they can never again become abundant. Enormous and highly specialized animals are usually slow breeders and especially liable to extinction, and since it has taken millions of years to evolve the whale, it is extremely unlikely that such evolution can again be duplicated upon this planet. Even if we deny whales the right to live, and disregard the scientific importance of this marvelously specialized group of mammals, it is apparent that, reduced to a sordid standard, our problem demands immediate attention. It is of the utmost importance that while there is yet time the governments of the world should realize that if proper legislation is enacted to regulate the killing of whales, a great and lucrative industry can not only be conducted profitably in the present, but preserved for the future. The history of modern whaling in Newfoundland, where American shore stations were first established, is an excellent example of what will happen sooner or later in every other part of the world if commercial greed remains unchecked. In 1908, Dr. Frederic A. Lucas, who from personal investigation is one of the best informed students of the subject, published a carefully prepared account of the Newfoundland fishery and I cannot do better than quote here a portion of his remarks. Dr. Lucas says: