Story: Marine conservation

Sealers, Campbell Island

Sealers, Campbell Island

Three sealers, Dick Norton (left), Harry Norton and an unidentified man who is holding a club, are pictured with clubbed seals on Campbell Island around 1914 or 1915. Seals were not usually shot, and the method of slaughter was barbaric: to save ammunition they were clubbed over the head while they lay sleeping or resting on the rocks. At the time, seals already had some legal protection and hunting was only allowed by licence in the wintertime.

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Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: 1/2-100388 G

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Gerard Hutching and Carl Walrond, 'Marine conservation - Marine mammals', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/5805/sealers-campbell-island (accessed 23 April 2024)

Story by Gerard Hutching and Carl Walrond, published 12 Jun 2006, updated 1 Sep 2015