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Extinction in North Atlantic
Despite what countless secondary sources that didn't bother do their research say, there is zero evidence (none) that whalers caused the extinction of gray whales in the North Atlantic. This is just another stupid assumption made again and again by lazy researchers. We don't know why they went extinct. We know they were hunted off Iceland, perhaps New England (iirc), and perhaps elsewhere (the Basques were at least aware of them c. 1611). We don't know the historic size of that population, how long they were hunted, how many were caught per year, or the composition (sex, age) of the catch. Do not restore my revert until you find proof (not circumstantial evidence, e.g. increase in whaling activity on entirely different species coincided with the disappearance of the gray whale in the North Atlantic) that whaling was the cause of the extinction of Atlantic gray whales (good luck with that, because you won't find it). SHFW70 (talk) 21:33, 15 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Unreliable source misquotes source
Your source for the extirpation by whalers of the Atlantic gray whales is suspect. Among the two sources it cites is Bryant's 1995 paper on Atlantic gray whale specimens. Bryant (p. 860, right column) merely speculates that whaling may have been the cause of its disappearance, stating that "This population of gray whales apparently disappeared during periods of active coastal whaling on both sides of the North Atlantic, supporting the possibility [my italics] that whaling activities were responsible for, or at least contributed to, its extinction". However, these whaling activities (as far as we know) primarily targeted right whales, as I stated above. Earlier (p. 860, left column) he asks "Could the eastern North Atlantic gray whale have been extirpated by whaling activities? Unfortunately, early whaling activities off the coast of Europe are poorly documented." This alone is enough to remove your inaccurate assumption, but I'll watch as you scramble for countless secondary sources blindly repeating the same thing again and again. Have fun with that. SHFW70 (talk) 19:14, 16 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
