Article Dans Une Revue Polar Geography Année : 2025

SPACK, a spatio-temporal database to study the history of whaling, sealing and fishing in the French Southern Islands from the 1780s to the 1930s

Résumé

This paper presents the building of a spatial-temporal database called SPACK, dedicated to the presence of hunting and fishing vessels in the waters of the French Southern Islands (TAAF): Saint-Paul, Amsterdam, Crozet and Kerguelen Islands, located between 37∘S and 49∘S latitudes. Although remote and uninhabited, these islands' coasts have been exploited since the late 18th century and integrated into a globalized trade network. Until France re-asserted its sovereignty a century later, they were considered res nullius. Knowledge about the vessels that hunted and fished on these islands was necessary to understand the history of the appropriation and exploitation of natural resources and the issues of public policies to preserve the environment. The SPACK database includes 1,241 hunting and fishing voyages recorded by area, involving twelve departure countries. This paper describes the methods used to collect, select and cross-reference data extracted from disparate and dispersed primary and secondary sources. It discusses the reliability of spatial and temporal data and presents the implementation of the database. Finally, it presents a use case for the SPACK database with a summary of the key findings related to sealing and whaling expeditions.

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Dates et versions

halshs-05243668 , version 1 (07-09-2025)

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Elsa Bocher, Erwan Bocher. SPACK, a spatio-temporal database to study the history of whaling, sealing and fishing in the French Southern Islands from the 1780s to the 1930s. Polar Geography, 2025, pp.1-24. ⟨10.1080/1088937X.2025.2548204⟩. ⟨halshs-05243668⟩
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