- Bruce Ollivierre Lands 44-Foot Whale on ‘Perseverance’
Harpooner Brain ‘Bruce’ Ollivierre and the crew of ‘perseverance’ struck a large female whale right off Spring Bay in the north of Bequia on Tuesday, April 16, eliciting celebrations among residents.
Whaler Brain ‘Bruce’ Ollivierre had to strike the whale twice to gain control.
The whale is forty-four (44) feet six inches long, twenty-two (22) feet wide, and has a tail that is twelve (12) feet wide.
Bruce, from the La Pompe community, comes from a whaling family that includes his father, Arson Ollivierre, and the famed harpooner, Othneil Ollivierre.
Bruce’s father’s boat was purchased by the SVG National Trust for preservation.
The International Whaling Commission recruited St. Vincent in 1981 to vote for the commercial whaling moratorium, which passed in 1982. The IWC’s Aboriginal Whaling Provision permitted St. Vincent to continue whaling as part of the moratorium agreement.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines have an annual quota of four whales. On Bequia, residents consider whales a resource that should be used as long as the use is sustainable.
The whalers are honoured because whaling in Bequia is an old tradition that requires skill and bravery on the part of the whalers. The islanders take pride in their success and welcome the contribution of meat and fat to the island diet.
Whalers and whale songs are part of Bequia’s folk art.
