Desarrollo de la Antártica

ExpuorrACION y CONSERVACION DE MAMIFEROS MARINOS EN LA ANTARTICA Daniel Torres N. Profesor del Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile "Let me give one example of a probIem in the ecology of seals. The world catGh of commercial fish has increased dramatically; in tlJe decade 1961-1970 it rose from 41 to 69 million tons. We may be pushíng near the limits of the físh resource and, if so, we have an apparent reason for killing all seals that feed on fish. But first it will have to be s'hown that, with fewer seals, there would be more fi!'lh, and I don't believe that anyone has demonstrated this outside the simplest aquatic model. When we take seals from Ilhe oeean, what sort of holes are left?". (Scheffer, IV. B. 1975. Seals and IPeople. Rapp. P. V. Réun Gons. int. Explor. Mer. 169: 9-11) . "Thebowhead whale and the right whales are monuments to man's thoughtlessness in the days of sail. The, blue whales and humpback. -and possibly the finback and sei as weIl- are monuments to an industry's lack of foresight in tJhe days of steam. T,he whaling nations today face a third and almost certainly a final decision. If essentialIy unrestricted whaling cdntinues, the only surviving stock of any eco– nomic importance -the sperm whale, of whose numbers more than '250.000 have been killed in the past 112 years- is doomed to become a monument to international folly". (Mc rvay, S. 1966. The last of the great whales. Sci Amer. 215 (2): 13-21) . INTRODUCCIÓN En las costas del cono sur de Sudamérica así como en las costas de otros continentes habitados por el hombre, las primitivas poblacio– nes !humanas utilizaron los recursos del mar para satisfacer sus nece– sidades básicas de sustento y abrigo. !Entre estos recursos, los mamí· feros marinos constituyeron una importante fuente de proteínas, acei– te y pieles. Dentro de aquel marco, esos hombres constituían una población natural más -como los Qawashqar en el extremo sur de Chile-, don– de contribuían en parte a regular las poblaciones de algunos mamÍ. feros marinos, como l'Os lobos de uno y dos pelos y, en algunos casos,