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. 1995 Mar 1;36(1):111–121. doi: 10.1186/BF03547708

A Norwegian Penthrite Granade for Minke Whales: Hunting Trials with Prototypes and Results from the Hunt in 1984,1985 and 1986

E O Øen 1,✉
PMCID: PMC8095382  PMID: 7572449

Abstract

A penthrite grenade to replace cold harpoons in the Norwegian minke whale hunt was developed in 1983–1985. Data on survival times for 259 minke whales were collected from the trials in the 1984–86 hunting seasons, when 3 different prototypes were used. About 45% of the whales were killed instantaneously. The median survival time was 72 s. A substantially higher percentage of instantaneous deaths was recorded for penthrite grenades than for cold harpoons. The criteria for death were cessation of flipper movement, relaxation of the mandible, or sinking without any active movement. Some animals dived before the criteria could be controlled. If the central nervous system, heart, lungs or main vessels were damaged, a high percentage of the animals died instantaneously. In most cases, hits and detonations outside the thorax and central nervous system resulted in longer survival times than hits in the thorax. Survival time increased with whale size and range for animals not killed instantaneously. Marksmanship, technical and functional reliability of equipment and hunting techniques were all crucial to a good result. Better training of gunners, improved weapons and hunting equipment and more rapid reshooting of wounded animals would reduce the proportion of long survival times.

Keywords: whale hunting methods, grenade harpoon, time to death, survival time, whaling

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Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank Dr. Torger Øritsland of Institute of Marine Research in Bergen for his advices and encouragement during the field trials in 1983–84. Thanks also to Project Manager Gunnar Lybeck and his colleague Sven Jemblie of Raufoss A/S, and Director Henrik Henriksen of Henriksen Mechanical Workshop A/S for cooperation during the trials. I am also grateful to Dr. phil. Åge Jonsgård, chairman of the Advisory Group for the project in 1983–84. Thanks are due to the inspectors who collected data on the killing process in addition to their normal duties, and to Ms. Lisbeth Jensen who punched in the data from the hunt. The author wishes to thank Dr. Lars Walløe of the Department of Physiology, University of Oslo, for his help with the statistical analysis of the data, reading the manuscript and most valuable comments and advices. Thanks also to Ms Alison J. Coulthard, who corrected the English.

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