American Cetacean Society Meeting to Focus on Whale Exploitation

Aside from Captain Ahab, people haven’t hunted whales as existential quests for meaning, but for the resources they provide. The next meeting of the Oregon Chapter of the American Cetacean Society will feature a look at this reality.  Speaker Uko Gorter will address Whales as a source of raw materials:  A look at historic and recent whale products.  The event, which is free and open to the public, takes place on Saturday, March 12, at 10 a.m. in the Newport Public Library (35 N.W. Nye). 

Born in Arnhem, Holland, Uko Gorter is a scientific and natural history illustrator, specializing in marine mammals and marine fauna. He joined the American Cetacean Society in 2001, and is the current president of the ACS-Puget Sound Chapter.

According to Gorter, “The lure of hunting whales in the past can be explained when we consider the high value placed on the raw materials that could be extracted from them. While in earlier times the whales were stripped of blubber and whalebone (baleen), and the rest of the carcass discarded at sea, technological advances in the twentieth century made it possible to utilize the entire whale. From whalebone corsets to spermaceti candles, from military explosives to cattle feed, we'll take a closer look at the extensive and strange variety of whale products derived from these leviathans. We will have a sizeable collection of historic and recent whale products on hand (which you may touch), each with their own interesting and disturbing story.”

For more information, contact Joy Primrose, ACS Oregon Chapter President, (541) 517-8754, marine_lover4ever@yahoo.com.