Dear Marmamers, My 2009 [published 2010], 40-page, colorfully illustrated, German-language paper on "German whale research in the 1930s, its function in the national whaling policy, its scientific results and perception", which was published in: Historisch-meereskundliches Jahrbuch, 15, , pp. 53-92 is now availabe in an 8.1 MB zipped PDF download from our colleague Jan Hermann's website: http://www.cetacea.de/artikel/feature/2010/deutscher_walfang_1930er.php Click on the DOWNLOAD button on the right. It comes with an English summary, which, for your convenience, you'll also find below. Cheers Klaus Barthelmess barthval at t-online.de Summary: German whale research in the 1930s, its function within the national whaling policy, its scientific results and international perception. The article describes the background, purpose, organisation, scope, subjects, scientific merits and the international perception of German cetacean research conducted between 1936 and 1943, when Germany was the world¹s third largest pelagic whaling nation, accounting for up to 12% of total Antarctic whale catches. Initially, as the leading consumer of whale oil, Germany had had a powerful position on the market, which had made whaling under her own flag unnecessary. This changed in 1935, when Norwegian whale oil producers substantially increased prices, making a bilateral trade clearing agreement dysfunctional. New German whaling figured prominently in the Nazi Four-Year-Plan. To put the new industry on a sound footing, its operational, logistic and technological aspects were from the start organized in a systematic and often innovative way. Aspects of international law relating to pelagic whaling in the Antarctic were dealt with by Germany signing (but not ratifying) the International Agreement for the Regulation of Whaling, negotiated in London in 1937. The London Agreement stipulated the collection of biological data relevant to age and reproduction patterns of whales. The industry had an interest in their migration patterns as well as their temporal and spatial distribution. Accordingly, a national whales¹ research institute was founded in Hamburg. Like several other whaling nations, Germany also despatched an Antarctic geographical research expedition in 1938/39 to ascertain her legal standing in case other nations proceeded to lay claims of sovereignty over parts of Antarctica and the adjoining, whale-rich waters. Whales were studied not only during this geographical research expedition, but also on board the seven German floating whale factory ships. 14 scientists conducted field research on the whaling grounds or worked in the research institute. The costs for whale research were budgeted with the ministry of food and agriculture. Besides systematic observations of whale presence, reliable catch statistics were kept on board the floating factories. Other research topics included anatomical and food studies of krill, the main food of several baleen whale species, plankton studies, relationships between diatom presence on whales¹ skins and their body conditions, hydrographical analyses of water bodies, whale blood morphology and embryology. There were no innovative trends in German whale research. Its topics continued previous British and Norwegian whale research, broadening their scope by adding data from ocean areas hitherto unstudied. Some preliminary results were published in two special issues of a fisheries research journal during the war. However, they were written in German and not in English. Furthermore, the inter-institutional exchange of publications was severed in those years. Finally, many biological samples collected were destroyed during the war, so that when peace was restored, the small volume of surviving samples permitted no analysis of scientific significance. For these reasons, the international scientific perception of German whale research was almost nil. However, the director of the whales¹ research institute had been commissioned to edit a whaling handbook for all those decision makers involved with the new industry in Germany. It covered historical, legal, scientific and technical aspects of whales and whaling. Unlike the scientific studies, this pioneering handbook was widely perceived and would become the prototype for similar handbooks published by Japanese, Dutch and Russian newcomers to Antarctic whaling. The article concludes with a brief outlook over German whale research interests in occupied Norway during Word War II and trends in national whale research after the war.