1538, when six were taken in each year. In 1543, whalemen from Lekeitio injured a whale, but it was captured by the men of Mutriku, resulting in the whale being divided between the two towns. The same year a mother-calf pair were caught. On 24 February 1546, a whale was reportedly killed in front of St. Nicholas Island. In 1611, two small whales were killed by the men of Lekeitio and Ondarroa, which resulted in a lawsuit. Similar records exist for Zarautz and Getaria. Fifty-five whales were caught from Zarautz between 1637 and 1801, and eighteen from Getaria between 1699 and 1789. Although whaling in the Basque regions was carried out as a cooperative enterprise among all the fishermen of a town, only the watchmen received a salary while there was no whaling. With such a low economic investment, "profits from a single whale would have been enormous, since their value was very high in those days." In such circumstances a catch of one whale every two or three years for each port may have kept the trade alive. Coming to a conclusion on the number of whales caught along the entire coast in a single year, as Aguilar has noted, is a more difficult matter. Even though 49 ports have been identified as whaling settlements, they didn't all participate in the trade at the same time, as it is known that some ports only hunted whales for a short period of time. Also, no details exist of the operations of small galleons that caught whales in the Bay of Biscay – especially off Galicia – without a station ashore. Aguilar suggests the total yearly catch may not have exceeded "some dozens, possibly reaching one hundred or thereabouts." Composition of catch and possible reasons for decline Despite the seemingly low annual harvest, two factors must be taken into consideration when discussing the decline and later (nearly) complete disappearance of right whales in the region: one, the preference of Basque whalers to target mother-calf pairs; and two, exploitation of the species outside the Bay of Biscay. The Basque whalemen directed most of their attention to attacking calves, given they were easily captured and, when struck, allowed them to approach the mother, who came to its aid, only to be killed herself. To encourage such methods, the harpooner and crew that wounded the calf first was rewarded a greater share of the