THE NORTHERN BOTTLE-NOSED WHALE IN THE FAROE ISLANDS, 1584-1993

The northern bottlenose whale has been caught in the Faroe islands for centuries, with written catch records going back to 1584 and unbroken from 1709. A total of 811 whales has been reported in the period 1584 -1993. The Faroese bottlenose whaling is an opportunistic drive fisher y of pods sighted very close to shore. Natural strandings also occur. Most of the fishery has taken place in two close southern villages of the Faroese archipelago (72% of the catch). The high season is 20 Augu st-20 September. The pod contains 1-7 whales with an average of 2.1 wh ales. Most of them are immature males or mature females with juveniles , but as many males as females have been caught overall. Females and m ales at every stage of development have been caught in the Faroes, alt hough it appears that the bottlenose whales approaching the Faroese co ast and then driven ashore have not included as large and as small ind ividuals as those shot offshore. A body weight (W in kg) and length (L in cm) relationship has been calculated for both sexes combined: W = 0.0000131 x L(3.07). Females and immature males have a grey and bulbou s forehead. As the males mature their forehead becomes flatter and lig hter, and only large mature males have a white and flat forehead. The stomach contents of nine whales contained in total at least 13 squid s pecies. A comparison with pilot whaling shows that bottlenose whales a rrive 2-4 weeks later than the pilot whales and that the geographical distribution of the catch is very different for both species, suggesti ng a different pattern of migration through the archipelago.