B1
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, MAY 8, 2021
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THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, MAY 8, 2021 • B1
Whaling along
Oregon’s coast
An enterprise during the 1960s
By JULIA TRIEZENBERG
For The Astorian
W
haling took place all over the world. But the
North Coast has a little-known history of
being home to one of the last commercial
whaling enterprises in the U.S.
Whaling was a thing of the past by the mid-20th
century on the East Coast but it lingered longer in
the West. In the 1960s, the industry became inter-
twined with Oregon’s mink farms.
As wild horse herd populations dwindled,
mink farms across the state ran out of ways to
feed their animals. Their solution was to turn to
the oceans by developing a whale fi shery that
could provide them with a high quantity of nutri-
ent-rich meat.
The proposal was a collaboration between the
Oregon Fur Producers; BioProducts Inc. and its
subsidiary Hvalfangst Oregon; and Frank Parker
and Eben Parker, who owned the trawler Tom & Al
that would become the company’s whaling boat.
See Whaling, Page B5
ABOVE: BioProducts used a variety of tools to utilize every part of the whales.
BOTTOM: Workers haul up a whale at BioProducts in Warrenton.