The environmental history of cetaceans in Portugal: ten centuries of whale and dolphin records

Abstract

The history between cetaceans and humans is documented throughout time not only in reports, descriptions, and tales but also in legal documents, laws and regulations, and tithes. This wealth of information comes from the easy spotting and identification of individuals due to their large size, surface breathing, and conspicuous above water behaviour. This work is based on historical sources and accounts accounting for cetacean presence for the period between the 12th and 17th centuries, as well as scientific articles, newspapers, illustrations, maps, non-published scientific reports, and other grey literature from the 18th century onwards. Information on whale use in Portugal's mainland has been found since as early as the 12th century and has continued to be created throughout time. No certainty can be given for medieval and earlier events, but both scavenging of stranded whales or use of captured ones may have happened. There is an increasing number of accounts of sighted, stranded, used, or captured cetaceans throughout centuries which is clearly associated with a growing effort towards the study of these animals. Scientific Latin species denominations only started to be registered from the 18th century onwards, as a consequence of the evolution of natural sciences in Portugal and increasing interest from zoologists. After the 19th century, a larger number of observations were recorded, and from the 20th century to the present day, regular scientific records have been collected. Research on the environmental history of cetaceans in Portugal shows a several-centuries-old exploitation of whales and dolphins, as resources mainly for human consumption, followed in later centuries by descriptions of natural history documenting strandings and at sea encounters. Most cetaceans species currently thought to be present in Portuguese mainland waters were at some point historically recorded.

Figure 1. Map of Portugal, showing the mainland (PT) and the archipelagos of Madeira (MD) and the Azores (AZ) in the Atlantic Ocean.

Marine protected areas are shown in green.

Figure 2. Number of identified cetacean species over time (bars), reflecting the knowledge gathered over time, across to effort for its detection (line).

Figure 3. Drawing of a dolphin identified as Delphinus maximus occurring in the Portuguese shores from Silva (1891); the same illustration could represent a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), a common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) or even a harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena).

Figure 4. Portuguese newspaper “Gazeta de Lisboa Occidental”, dated 21st January 1723, presenting the stranding of a large whale with a very detailed description and an illustration of the animal.

Figure 5. Number of different disciplines related to cetaceans throughout time (n = 8).

Figure 6. Number of historical and recent accounts for cetaceans over time (n = 142), including both historical sources and scientific publications, considering the three main activities related to cetacean presence (whaling, strandings and sightings).