It's nearly 50 years since Marlborough whalers J. A. Perano and Company harpooned their last whale in New Zealand waters. Peter Perano reflects on what it was like to be a third generation whaler. Archived audio courtesy of The New Zealand Archive of Film, Television and Sound - Whale Hunt, 1955 and Spectrum 918 / 919 The Last of the Whale Hunters, 1996 featuring Charlie and Joe Heberley.

Gunner Trevor Norton firing a harpoon towards a humpback whale just to the left of the chaser's bow. Peter Perano says Trevor was an ace gunner and one of J. A. Perano and Company's best - image taken by and courtesy of Peter Perano

"Quite angry actually... I mean it was bloody well unnecessary... they had a license but it meant nothing to them" - Peter Perano

After a record whaling season in 1960, with 226 humpback whales caught in Cook Strait and the Marlborough Sounds by J. A. Perano and Company, whaler Peter Perano was understandably looking forward to the year ahead. However, it was never to be repeated. With numbers so low, it was only four years later that more than 170 years of New Zealand whaling history came to an end on December 21st 1964, with the last whale harpooned in our waters from a New Zealand-owned ship.

Image: Gunner Trevor Norton and driver Joe Perano (Jnr) on board the chaser Narwhal - courtesy Peter Perano

"We were devastated," says Charlie Heberley, who whaled with Peter's father Joseph. "We got blamed here in New Zealand for killing the whales out."

"Well let me give you an example; in 1960 we took the record number of whales here in New Zealand... that same season the Japanese and the Russians took 42,000 whales down in the Antarctic and that's only what they reported."

While an emotive subject, the whaling history of Marlborough stretched over generations and made a significant contribution to New Zealand's economy. Whale oil was used for lighting and lubrication, as well as in the manufacture of products such as rope, paint and soaps. Whale meat was also used for human and pet consumption and much of the blood and bone by-product wound up feeding the market gardens of Pukekohe.

However, Peter Perano says the Marlborough whalers were committed to the survival of the whales they were hunting as their livelihood depended on it. The whalers were prohibited from taking right whales and while they didn't have a quota for humpbacks, they were dictated to by the factory at Fishing Bay which could only process three whales a day…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details