View source for Whaling

{{short description|Hunting of whales}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Redirect|Hunting Whales|the album by The Checks|Hunting Whales (album)}}
[[File:To the left, the black-hulled whaling ships. To the right, the red-hulled whale-watching ship.jpg|thumb|To the left, the black-hulled whaling ships. To the right, the red-hulled whale-watching ship. [[Iceland]], 2011.]]
[[File:Number of whales killed, OWID.svg|thumb|Number of whales killed since 1900]]
'''Whaling''' is the [[hunting]] of [[whale]]s for their products such as [[Whale meat|meat]] and [[blubber]], which can be turned into [[Whale oil|a type of oil]] that was important in the [[Industrial Revolution]]. Whaling was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16th century, it had become the principal industry in the [[Basque Country (greater region)|Basque]] coastal regions of Spain and France. The whaling industry spread throughout the world and became very profitable in terms of trade and resources. Some regions of the world's oceans, along the animals' migration routes, had a particularly dense whale population and became targets for large concentrations of whaling ships, and the industry continued to grow well into the 20th century. The depletion of some whale species to near extinction led to the banning of whaling in many countries by 1969 and to an international cessation of whaling as an industry in the late 1980s.
Archaeological evidence suggests the earliest known forms of whaling date to at least 3000 BC, practiced by the [[Inuit]] and other peoples in the North Atlantic and North Pacific.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url= http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/641450/whaling/225363/The-history-of-whaling |title= whaling |year= 2001 |encyclopedia= [[Encyclopædia Britannica|Britannica Online Encyclopedia]] |access-date= May 16, 2010}}</ref> Coastal communities around the world have long histories of [[hunter-gatherer|subsistence]] use of [[cetacean]]s, by [[dolphin drive hunting]] and by harvesting [[drift whale]]s. Widespread commercial whaling emerged with organized fleets of [[whaling ship]]s in the 17th century; competitive national whaling industries in the 18th and 19th centuries; and the introduction of [[factory ship]]s and [[explosive harpoon]]s along with the concept of whale harvesting in the first half of the 20th century. By the late 1930s, more than 50,000 whales were killed annually.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Francis |first=Daniel |title= Whaling |encyclopedia= [[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |publisher= [[Historica Dominion Institute]]|url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/whaling/ <!--Bot repaired link--> |access-date= May 16, 2010}}</ref> In 1982, the [[International Whaling Commission]] (IWC) decided that there should be a pause on commercial whaling on all whale species from 1986 onwards because of the extreme depletion of most of the whale stocks.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://iwc.int/commercial|title=Commercial Whaling|website=iwc.int}}</ref>

Contemporary whaling for whale meat is subject to intense debate. Iceland, Japan, Norway, North American indigenous peoples and the Danish dependencies of the Faroe Islands and Greenland continue to hunt in the 21st century. The IWC ban on commercial whaling has been very successful, with only Iceland, Japan and Norway still engaging in and supporting commercial hunting.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-09-01 |title=Whale Hunting Still Exists in 3 Countries, but It Is Declining |url=https://www.sentientmedia.org/whale-hunting/ |access-date=2024-10-11 |language=en-US}}</ref> They also support having the IWC moratorium lifted on certain whale stocks for hunting.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=120133|title=Japan, Norway Move to End Whaling Ban|author=ABC News|website=ABC News}}</ref> [[Anti-whaling]] countries and [[environmental activist]]s oppose lifting the ban. Under the terms of the IWC moratorium, [[aboriginal whaling]] is allowed to continue on a [[Subsistence fishing|subsistence basis]].<ref>{{Cite web
| url = http://us.whales.org/issues/aboriginal-subsistence-whaling
| title = Aboriginal substance whaling
| website = About Whales and Dolphins
| access-date = 24 February 2016
}}</ref> Over the past few decades, [[whale watching]] has become a significant industry in many parts of the world; in some countries it has replaced whaling, but in a few others the two business models exist in an uneasy tension. The live capture of cetaceans for display in aquaria (e.g., [[Captive orcas|captive killer whales]]) continues.

== History ==
{{Main|History of whaling|Aboriginal whaling}}
[[File:18th century arctic whaling.jpg|thumb|Eighteenth-century engraving showing [[Whaling in the Netherlands|Dutch whalers]] hunting [[bowhead whale]]s in the [[Arctic]]]]
[[File:Abraham Speeck - Danish Whaling Station - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|Whaling on [[Danes Island]], by Abraham Speeck, 1634. [[Skokloster Castle]].]]
[[File:Dutch Whaling Scene Bonaventura Peeters.JPG|thumb|One of the oldest known whaling paintings, by [[Bonaventura Peeters the Elder|Bonaventura Peeters]], depicting [[Whaling in the Netherlands|Dutch whalers]] at [[Spitzbergen]] c. 1645]]

Whaling began in prehistoric times in coastal waters. The earliest depictions of whaling are the Neolithic [[Bangudae Petroglyphs]] in Korea, which may date back to 6000 BC.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Roman|first1=Joe|title=Whale|publisher=Reaktion Books|isbn=978-1-86189-505-9|page=24|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MYfxAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT24|access-date=25 March 2017|language=en|date=2006-05-01}}</ref> These images are the earliest evidence for whaling.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Mannino|first1=Marcello A.|last2=Talamo|first2=Sahra|last3=Tagliacozzo|first3=Antonio|last4=Fiore|first4=Ivana|last5=Nehlich|first5=Olaf|last6=Piperno|first6=Marcello|last7=Tusa|first7=Sebastiano|last8=Collina|first8=Carmine|last9=Salvo|first9=Rosaria Di|last10=Schimmenti|first10=Vittoria|last11=Richards|first11=Michael P.|title=Climate-driven environmental changes around 8,200 years ago favoured increases in cetacean strandings and Mediterranean hunter-gatherers exploited them|journal=Scientific Reports|volume=5|article-number=16288|doi=10.1038/srep16288|pmid=26573384|pmc=4648091|date=17 November 2015|bibcode=2015NatSR...516288M}}</ref> Although prehistoric [[Hunter-gatherer|hunting and gathering]] is generally considered to have had little ecological impact, early whaling in the [[Arctic]] may have altered freshwater ecology.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Douglas|first=M. S. V.|year=2004|title=Prehistoric Inuit whalers affected Arctic freshwater ecosystems|journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America]]|volume=101|issue=6|pages=1613–1617|doi=10.1073/pnas.0307570100|pmc=341790|pmid=14745043|author2=Smol, J. P.|author3=Savelle, J. M.|author4=Blais, J. M.|bibcode=2004PNAS..101.1613D|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Early whaling affected the development of widely disparate cultures on different continents.<ref>Matera, Anthony. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3970/is_200010/ai_n8917838/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1 "Whale quotas: A market-based solution to the whaling controversy"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016052849/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3970/is_200010/ai_n8917838/pg_1?tag=artBody%3Bcol1 |date=2015-10-16 }}, ''[[Georgetown International Environmental Law Review]]''. Fall 2000.</ref> The [[History of the Basque people#Basque sailors|Basques]] were the first to catch whales commercially and dominated the trade for five centuries, spreading to the far corners of the [[North Atlantic]] and even reaching the [[South Atlantic]]. The development of modern whaling techniques was spurred in the 19th century by the increase in demand for [[whale oil]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.whalingmuseum.org/library/old_nb/old_nb_index.html |title=From Old Dartmouth to New Bedford, Whaling Metropolis of the World Whaling should be stopped! |publisher=Old Dartmouth Historical Society |access-date=2008-12-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090430105742/http://www.whalingmuseum.org/library/old_nb/old_nb_index.html |archive-date=April 30, 2009 }}</ref> sometimes known as "train oil", and in the 20th century by a demand for [[margarine]] and later [[whale meat]].

[[File:Indian Whalers Stripping Their Prey at Neah Bay - 1910.jpg|thumb|Native Americans Stripping Their Prey at [[Neah Bay]] – 1910]]

== Modernity ==
[[File:Bremerhaven 26 (RaBoe).jpg|thumb|The ''Rau IX'', a whaling ship built in 1939 for the German [[margarine]] company Walter Rau AG,  now part of the collection of the [[German Maritime Museum]]. Whale oil was an important ingredient of margarine and the company operated its own whaling ships<ref>{{Cite web |title=RAU IX |url=https://www.dsm.museum/en/exhibition/exhibits/rau-ix |access-date=2023-05-18 |website=www.dsm.museum |language=en}}</ref>]]

[[File:Whales caught recently.png|thumb|left|Whales caught 2010–2014, by country]]
The primary species hunted are [[minke whale]]s,<ref name="iwc-catch">{{Cite web |url=https://iwc.int/total-catches |title=Total Catches |website=iwc.int |language=en |access-date=2018-04-08}}</ref>
[[Beluga whale#Beluga catches by location|belugas]], [[narwhals]],<ref name="narwhals">{{Cite bioRxiv |last=Witting |first=Lars |date=2017-04-10 |title=Meta population modelling of narwhals in East Canada and West Greenland – 2017 |biorxiv=10.1101/059691}}</ref>
and [[pilot whale]]s, which are some of the smallest species of whales. There are also smaller numbers killed of [[gray whale]]s, [[sei whale]]s, [[fin whale]]s, [[bowhead whale]]s, [[Bryde's whale]]s, [[sperm whale]]s and [[humpback whale]]s.

Recent scientific surveys estimate a population of 103,000 minkes in the northeast Atlantic. With respect to the populations of Antarctic minke whales, as of January 2010, the IWC states that it is "unable to provide reliable estimates at the present time" and that a "major review is underway by the Scientific Committee."<ref>{{cite web|author=Mark Tandy |url=http://iwc.int/estimate |title=Population Estimates |publisher=Iwcoffice.org |access-date=2010-07-10}}</ref>

Whale oil is used little today,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.petroleumhistory.org/OilHistory/pages/Whale/whale.html |title=Whale Oil |publisher=Petroleumhistory.org |access-date=2010-07-10}}</ref> and modern whaling is primarily done for food: for pets, fur farms, sled dogs and humans, and for making carvings of tusks, teeth and vertebrae.<ref name="hoover">{{Cite journal |vauthors=Hoover C, Bailey M, Higdon J, Ferguson SH, Sumalia R |date=March 2013 |title=Estimating the Economic Value of Narwhal and Beluga Hunts in Hudson Bay, Nunavut |journal= Arctic|volume=66 |pages=1–16 |doi=10.14430/arctic4261|s2cid=59126947 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Both meat and blubber ([[muktuk]]) are eaten from narwhals, belugas and bowheads. From commercially hunted minkes, meat is eaten by humans or animals, and blubber is rendered down mostly to cheap industrial products such as animal feed or, in Iceland, as a fuel supplement for whaling ships.

International cooperation on whaling regulation began in 1931 and culminated in the signing of the [[International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling]] (ICRW) in 1946. Its aim is to:

:<blockquote>provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry.<ref>[http://iwc.int/commission/convention.htm The Convention]. Iwcoffice.org. Retrieved on 2011-10-11.</ref></blockquote>

=== International Whaling Commission ===
{{update|section|date=January 2016}}
The [[International Whaling Commission]] (IWC) was set up under the ICRW to decide hunting quotas and other relevant matters based on the findings of its Scientific Committee. Non-member countries are not bound by its regulations and conduct their own management programs. It regulates hunting of 13 species of [[Cetacea#Taxonomy|great whales]] and has not reached consensus on whether it may regulate smaller species.<ref name="iwcjuris">{{Cite web |url=https://iwc.int/smallcetacean |title=Small cetaceans |website=iwc.int |language=en |access-date=2018-04-08}}</ref>

The IWC voted on July 23, 1982, to establish a [[Moratorium (law)|moratorium]] on commercial whaling of great whales beginning in the 1985–86 season. Since 1992, the IWC's Scientific Committee has requested that it be allowed to give quota proposals for some whale stocks, but this has so far been refused by the Plenary Committee.

At the 2010 meeting in Morocco, representatives of the 88 member states discussed whether to lift the 24-year ban on commercial whaling. Japan, Norway and Iceland urged the organisation to lift the ban. A coalition of anti-whaling nations offered a compromise plan that would allow these countries to continue whaling but with smaller catches and under close supervision. Their plan would also completely ban whaling in the [[Southern Ocean]].<ref name="nytimes1">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/world/22whale.html |author=David Jolly |title=Under Pressure, Commission Discusses Lifting Whaling Ban |work = [[The New York Times]] |date=June 21, 2010}}</ref> More than 200 scientists and experts have opposed the compromise proposal for lifting the ban and have also opposed allowing whaling in the Southern Ocean, which was declared a [[Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary|whale sanctuary]] in 1994.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Jøn|first=A. Asbjørn|date=2014|title=The whale road: Transitioning from spiritual links, to whaling, to whale watching in Aotearoa New Zealand|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288579743|journal=Australian Folklore: A Yearly Journal of Folklore Studies|issue=29|pages=87–116}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iPUjGuZokfP3tyEKCC8pXzfvgnVg |title=Whaling ban must stay, say 200 scientists |publisher=AFP |date=June 22, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100625062308/https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iPUjGuZokfP3tyEKCC8pXzfvgnVg |archive-date=June 25, 2010 }}</ref> Opponents of the compromise plan want to see an end to all commercial whaling but are willing to allow subsistence-level catches by [[indigenous peoples]].<ref name="nytimes1" />

=== Whaling catches by location ===
These totals include great whales: counts from IWC<ref name="total catch">{{Cite web |url=https://iwc.int/total-catches |title=Total Catches |website=iwc.int |language=en |access-date=2018-11-19}}</ref> and WDC<ref name="wdc">{{Cite web |url=https://us.whales.org/whaling-facts |title=Whaling in Numbers |date=November 2017 |website=WDC, Whale and Dolphin Conservation |language=en |access-date=2018-11-27 |archive-date=2018-11-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181128075241/https://us.whales.org/whaling-facts }}</ref>
and IWC Summary Catch Database version 6.1, July 2016.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ulqwxv1nz794f4z/AABXkNwPtZ1L1WuLogcv4xWEa?dl= |title=IWCDBv6.1 |date=July 2016 |website=IWC |language=en |access-date=2018-12-22}}</ref>

The IWC database is supplemented by [[Whaling in the Faroe Islands#Catch statistics|Faroese]] catches of pilot whales,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.whaling.fo:80/numberswhalingandani.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080612233347/http://www.whaling.fo/numberswhalingandani.htm |archive-date=2008-06-12 |title=Whaling Information |last=Zoological Department, Museum of Natural History |date=2008-06-12 |website=Faroe islands Department of Foreign Affairs |access-date=2018-12-22 }}</ref>
Greenland's and Canada's catches of narwhals (data 1954–2014),<ref name="narwhals" /> belugas from multiple sources shown in the [[Beluga whale]] article, Indonesia's catches of sperm whales,<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.smh.com.au/world/in-for-the-kill-last-of-the-ancient-whalers-20080308-gds4b1.html |title=In for the kill, last of the ancient whalers |last=Broadhead |first=Ivan |date=2008-03-08 |access-date=2018-12-22 |language=en |journal=The Sydney Morning Herald}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://spiceislandsblog.com/2015/10/23/the-whale-hunters-of-lamalera/ |title=The Whale Hunters of Lamalera |last=Burnet |first=Ian |date=2015-10-23 |website=spiceislandsblog |language=en |access-date=2018-12-22}}</ref> and bycatch in Korea.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://iwc.int/scprogress|title=Progress Reports|website=iwc.int}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://portal.iwc.int/login|title=International Whaling Commission: Portal|website=portal.iwc.int}}</ref>

{|class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size: 75%; text-align: center; width: auto;"
|+Whales caught, by country and species, 2010–2014
|-
!Country||Practice||Total||Minke||Belugas||Narwhals||Pilot Whales||Gray||Sei||Fin||Bowhead||Bryde's||Sperm||Humpback||Orca
|-
!Total||||21,008||5,663||4,831||4,548||3,699||642||486||460||323||189||108||57||2
|-
|Canada||Aboriginal||4,510||||1,626||2,870||||||||||15||||||||
|-
|Greenland||Aboriginal||3,953||875||1,316||1,679||||||||37||4||||||42||
|-
|Faroe Islands||Aboriginal||3,698||||||||3,698||||||||||||||||
|-
|Norway||Commercial||2,795||2,795||||||||||||||||||||||
|-
|Japan||Commercial||2,080||1,396||||||||||486||3||||187||8||||
|-
|USA||Aboriginal||1,887||||1,586||||||||||||301||||||||
|-
|Russia||Aboriginal||948||||303||||||642||||||3||||||||
|-
|Iceland||Commercial||648||229||||||||||||419||||||||||
|-
|South Korea||Commercial||376||368||||||1||||||1||||2||||2||2
|-
|Indonesia||Aboriginal||100||||||||||||||||||||100||||
|-
|St. Vincent + Grenadines||Aboriginal||13||||||||||||||||||||||13||
|-
|}

Most of the whale species in the table are not considered endangered by the IUCN ("least concern" or "data deficient"). Only the [[sei whale]] is classified as "endangered", and the [[fin whale]] is classified as "vulnerable" by the IUCN.

== Ongoing debate ==
{{Main|Whale conservation|Anti-whaling}}
Key elements of the debate over whaling include sustainability, ownership, national sovereignty, [[cetacean intelligence]], [[Animal welfare|suffering]] during hunting, health risks, the value of 'lethal sampling' to establish catch quotas, the value of controlling whales' impact on fish stocks and the rapidly approaching extinction of a few whale species.

=== Sustainability ===
{{Main|Cetacean bycatch}}
[[File:Domino whale-bone hg.jpg|thumb|[[Dominoes]] made from whale bones]]
[[File:Baleines.png|thumb|Whales caught, by year, including corrected USSR totals; source has data by species; totals are shown on a logarithmic scale]]

The [[World Wide Fund for Nature]] says that 90% of all [[northern right whale]]s killed by human activities are from ship collisions, calling for restrictions on the movement of shipping in certain areas.{{citation needed|date=April 2016}} Noise pollution threatens the existence of cetaceans. Large ships and boats make a tremendous amount of noise that falls into the same frequency range of many whales.<ref>{{cite web|title=Threats To Whales|url=http://www.savethewhales.org|publisher=SAVE the WHALES|access-date=2013-11-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100114053626/http://www.savethewhales.org/|archive-date=2010-01-14}}</ref> [[Bycatch]] also kills more animals than hunting.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/cetaceans/threats/shipping/|title=WWF&nbsp;– Impact of shipping on whales|date=2010-02-22|publisher=Panda.org|access-date=2010-07-10}}</ref> Some scientists believe pollution to be a factor.<ref name=BBCsci>Kirby, Alex. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/806343.stm Right whales face extinction.] ''[[BBC News]]''. June 27, 2000.</ref> Moreover, since the IWC moratorium, there have been several instances of illegal whale hunting by IWC nations. In 1994, the IWC reported evidence from [[genetic testing]]<ref>Baker, Scott. Report to the International Whaling Commission (1994)</ref> of whale meat and blubber for sale on the open market in Japan in 1993.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Baker|first=C. S.|year=1994|title=Which Whales are Hunted? A Molecular Genetic Approach to Monitoring Whaling|journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]]|volume=265|issue=5178|pages=1538–1539|doi=10.1126/science.265.5178.1538|pmid=17801528|author2=Palumbi, S. R.|author-link2=Stephen R. Palumbi|bibcode=1994Sci...265.1538B}}</ref> In addition to the legally permitted minke whale, the analyses showed that 10–25% of tissues sampled came from non-minke [[baleen whale]]s. Further research in 1995 and 1996 showed a significant drop of non-minke baleen whales sampled to 2.5%.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Palumbi|first1=S. R.|author-link1=Stephen R. Palumbi|year=1998|title=Species identification using genetic tools: The value of nuclear and mitochondrial gene sequences in whale conservation|url=http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/oceanography/courses_html/OCN331/Palumbi&Cipriano.pdf|journal=[[Journal of Heredity]]|volume=89|issue=5|pages=459–464|doi=10.1093/jhered/89.5.459|pmid=9768497|author2=Cipriano, F.|access-date=2006-12-03|doi-access=free|archive-date=2020-09-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200918103714/http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/oceanography/courses_html/OCN331/Palumbi%26Cipriano.pdf}}</ref> In a separate paper, Baker stated that "many of these animals certainly represent a bycatch (incidental entrapment in fishing gear)" and stated that DNA monitoring of whale meat is required to adequately track whale products.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://whale.wheelock.edu/archives/ask03/att-0087/01-whalingemm.pdf | title = Modern Whaling | author1 = Clapham, P. J. | author2 = Baker, C. S. | name-list-style = amp | year = 2002 | access-date = 2006-12-03 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061108041514/http://whale.wheelock.edu/archives/ask03/att-0087/01-whalingemm.pdf | archive-date = 2006-11-08 }}</ref>

It was revealed in 1994 that the [[Soviet Union]] had been systematically undercounting its catch. For example, from 1948 to 1973, the Soviet Union caught 48,477 humpback whales rather than the 2,710 it officially reported to the IWC.<ref>{{
cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/13/science/dna-tests-find-meat-of-endangered-whales-for-sale-in-japan.html | access-date=2014-08-25 | last = Angier | first = Natalie | title = DNA Tests Find Meat of Endangered Whales for Sale in Japan | work = [[The New York Times]] | date = 1994-09-13}}</ref> On the basis of this new information, the IWC stated that it would have to rewrite its catch figures for the last 40 years.<ref>{{cite news | first = David | last = Hearst | title = Soviet Files Hid Systematic Slaughter of World Whale Herds | newspaper = Gazette (Montreal) | date = 1994-02-12}}</ref> According to Ray Gambell, then-Secretary of the IWC, the organization had raised its suspicions with the former Soviet Union, but it did not take further action because it could not interfere with national sovereignty.<ref>{{cite news|title=We Didn't Know About the Whale Slaughter|last=Williams|first=David|date=1994-02-23|publisher=Agence Fr. Presse}}</ref>

=== Health risks ===
{{See also|Whale meat#Toxicity}}
Whales are long-lived predators, so their tissues build up concentrations of [[methylmercury]] from their prey. Mercury concentrations reach levels that are hazardous to humans who consume too much too often, since mercury also bioaccumulates in humans. High levels have been found in the Caribbean<ref name="mcc">{{Cite journal |last1=McCormack |first1=Meaghan A. |last2=Fielding |first2=Russell |last3=Kiszka |first3=Jeremy J. |last4=Paz |first4=Valeria |last5=Jackson |first5=Brian P. |last6=Bergfelt |first6=Don R. |last7=Dutton |first7=Jessica |date=February 2020 |title=Mercury and selenium concentrations, and selenium:mercury molar ratios in small cetaceans taken off St. Vincent, West Indies |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0013935119307054 |journal=Environmental Research |language=en |volume=181 |article-number=108908 |doi=10.1016/j.envres.2019.108908|pmid=31759648 |bibcode=2020ER....18108908M |s2cid=208274373 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> (where people are advised not to exceed one serving every three weeks),<ref name="fielding" /> in the Faroe Islands,<ref name="weihe">{{Cite journal |last1=Weihe |first1=Pál |last2=Debes Joensen |first2=Høgni |date=2012-01-31 |title=Dietary recommendations regarding pilot whale meat and blubber in the Faroe Islands |journal=International Journal of Circumpolar Health |language=en |volume=71 |issue=1 |article-number=18594 |doi=10.3402/ijch.v71i0.18594 |pmid=22789518 |issn=2242-3982|pmc=3417701 }}</ref> and in Japan.<ref name="simm">{{Cite journal |last=Simmonds |first=M. P. ,K. Haraguchi,T. Endo,F. Cipriano,S. R. Palumbi & G. M. Troisi |date=2002-11-23 |title=Human health significance of organochlorine and mercury contaminants in Japanese whale meat |journal=Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health. Part A |volume=65 |issue=17 |pages=1211–1235 |doi=10.1080/152873902760125714 |pmid=12167206 |bibcode=2002JTEHA..65.1211S |s2cid=24439081 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/11220110}}</ref>

=== Effects on global carbon cycles ===
Scientists have analyzed the ability of the oceans to [[Carbon sequestration|sequester atmospheric carbon]] before industrial whaling and in modern times, hundreds of years after the most active whaling periods. Focusing on the amount of carbon stored in baleen whales, scientists determined that large marine mammals hold over 9 million less tons of carbon in the ocean than during the pre whaling era (9.1 x 10^6 tons).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pershing |first1=Andrew J. |last2=Christensen |first2=Line B. |last3=Record |first3=Nicholas R. |last4=Sherwood |first4=Graham D. |last5=Stetson |first5=Peter B. |date=2010-08-26 |title=The Impact of Whaling on the Ocean Carbon Cycle: Why Bigger Was Better |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=5 |issue=8 |article-number=e12444 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0012444 |doi-access=free |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=2928761 |pmid=20865156|bibcode=2010PLoSO...512444P }}</ref>

Whales play an important role in the [[carbon cycle]] in life and death. Living whales cycle carbon and nitrogen throughout the [[water column]] via [[whale feces]] where it can contribute to [[Primary production|primary productivity]] at the surface. In death, their carcasses can become part of a [[whale fall]] and sink to the bottom, bringing their carbon with them to help form a temporary ecosystem at the ocean floor. Despite rebounding whale numbers after the international ban on whaling, climate change and rising carbon levels continue to hinder the amount of carbon sequestered by whales.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Durfort |first1=Anaëlle |last2=Mariani |first2=Gaël |last3=Tulloch |first3=Vivitskaia |last4=Savoca |first4=Matthew S. |last5=Troussellier |first5=Marc |last6=Mouillot |first6=David |date=2022-11-09 |title=Recovery of carbon benefits by overharvested baleen whale populations is threatened by climate change |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |language=en |volume=289 |issue=1986 |article-number=20220375 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2022.0375 |issn=0962-8452 |pmc=9627705 |pmid=36321488}}</ref>

== By country ==
{{See also|Whaling in the Netherlands|Whaling in Scotland|Whaling in Argentina}}

=== Australia ===
{{Main|Whaling in Australia}}
[[File:South Sea Whale Fishery, lithographic print painted by Garnerey, engraved by E. Duncan, published 1835.jpg|thumb|Catching and rendering whales, South Sea Whale Fishery, aquatint print, 1835]]
Whaling was a major maritime industry in Australia from 1791 until its final cessation in 1978. At least 45 whaling stations operated in [[Tasmania]] during the 19th century, and bay whaling was conducted out of other mainland centres. Modern whaling using harpoon guns and iron hulled catchers was conducted in the 20th century from shore-based stations in [[Western Australia]], [[South Australia]], [[New South Wales]] and [[Queensland]], also in [[Norfolk Island]]. Overfishing saw the closure of some whaling stations before a government ban on the industry was introduced in 1978 after a major campaign by conservationists.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Commons Librarian |date=2023-12-22 |title=Campaigns that Changed Western Australia |url=https://commonslibrary.org/campaigns-that-changed-western-australia/ |access-date=2024-04-19 |website=The Commons Social Change Library |language=en-AU}}</ref>

=== Canada ===
{{Main|Whaling in Canada}}
[[File:Beluga Hunt Salluit.jpg|thumb|Young butchered [[Beluga whale|beluga]] on the beach of the [[Inuit]] village of [[Salluit]], [[Quebec]], July 2001]]
Canadians kill about 600 narwhals per year.<ref name="narwhals" /> They kill 100 belugas per year in the [[Beaufort Sea]],<ref name="sar2017">{{Cite web |url=https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/webdam/download/64132759 |title=Alaska Marine Mammal Stock Assessments, 2017 (draft) |last=Muto |first=M.M., V. T. Helker, R. P. Angliss, B. A. Allen, P. L. Boveng, J.M. Breiwick, M. F. Cameron, P. J. Clapham, S. P. Dahle, M. E. Dahlheim, B. S. Fadely, M.C. Ferguson, L. W. Fritz, R. C. Hobbs, Y. V. Ivashchenko, A. S. Kennedy, J.M. London, S. A. Mizroch, R. R. Ream, E. L. Richmond, K. E. W. Shelden, R. G. Towell, P. R. Wade, J. M. Waite, and A. N. Zerbini |date=2017 |website=Marine Mammal Laboratory, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, NMFS, NOAA |access-date=2018-04-08}}</ref><ref name="sar-draft">{{Cite web |url=https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-mammal-protection/draft-marine-mammal-stock-assessment-reports |title=Draft Marine Mammal Stock Assessment Reports, NOAA Fisheries |last=Fisheries |first=NOAA |date=2018-01-31 |website=www.fisheries.noaa.gov |language=EN-US |access-date=2018-04-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180428225802/https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-mammal-protection/draft-marine-mammal-stock-assessment-reports |archive-date=2018-04-28 }}</ref>
300 in northern Quebec ([[Nunavik]]),<ref name="nunatsiak">{{Cite news |url=http://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/65674nunaviks_beluga_season_closes_early/ |title=Nunatsiaq News 2016-08-22: NEWS: Nunavik's beluga season closes early |last=Rogers |first=Sarah |date=2016-08-22 |work=Nunatsiaq News |access-date=2018-04-07 |language=en}}</ref> and an unknown number in [[Nunavut]]. The [[Beluga whale#Beluga catches by location|total annual kill]] in Beaufort and Quebec areas varies between 300 and 400 belugas per year. Numbers are not available for Nunavut since 2003, when the [[Arviat]] area, with about half Nunavut's hunters, killed 200–300 belugas, though the authors say hunters resist giving complete numbers.<ref name="suluk">{{Cite journal |last=Suluk  |first=Thomas K., and Sherrie L. Blakney  |date=2008 |title=Land Claims and Resistance to the Management of Harvester Activities in Nunavut |url=http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic61-S-62.pdf |journal=Arctic |volume=61 |issue=5 |pages=62–70 |via=University of Calgary |doi=10.14430/arctic102 |hdl=10535/5552 |hdl-access=free |access-date=2018-04-08 |archive-date=2017-09-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921214017/http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/arctic61-s-62.pdf }}</ref>

Harvested meat is sold through shops and supermarkets in northern communities where whale meat is a component of the traditional diet.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Krupnik|first=Igor|year=1993|title=Prehistoric Eskimo Whaling in the Arctic: Slaughter of Calves or Fortuitous Ecology?|journal=Arctic Anthropology|volume=30|issue=1|pages=1–12|jstor=40316325}}</ref> Hunters in [[Hudson Bay]] rarely eat beluga meat. They give a little to dogs and leave the rest for wild animals.<ref name="hoover" /> Other areas may dry the meat for later consumption by humans. An average of one or two vertebrae and one or two teeth per beluga or narwhal are carved and sold.<ref name="hoover" /> One estimate of the annual gross value received from Beluga hunts in Hudson Bay in 2013 was {{CAD|600,000}} for 190 belugas, or {{CAD|3,000}} per beluga, and {{CAD|530,000}} for 81 narwhals, or {{CAD|6,500}} per narwhal. However the net income, after subtracting costs in time and equipment, was a loss of {{CAD|60}} per person for belugas and {{CAD|7}} per person for narwhals. Hunters receive subsidies, but they continue as a tradition rather than for the money, and the economic analysis noted that whale watching may be an alternate revenue source. Of the gross income, {{CAD|550,000}} was for beluga skin and meat, to replace beef, pork and chickens which would otherwise be bought, {{CAD|50,000}} was received for carved vertebrae and teeth. {{CAD|370,000}} was for narwhal skin and meat, {{CAD|150,000}} was received for tusks, and carved vertebrae and teeth of males, and {{CAD|10,000}} was received for carved vertebrae and teeth of female narwhals.<ref name="hoover" />

The [[Whale and Dolphin Conservation]] says:{{when|date=September 2018}} "Canada has pursued a policy of marine mammal management which appears to be more to do with political expediency rather than conservation."

Canada left the IWC in 1982, and the only IWC-regulated species currently harvested by the Canadian Inuit is the bowhead whale.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2005773.stm | work=BBC News |title= The Inuit case for whaling | date=2002-05-24 |first=Mike |last=Fox}}</ref> As of 2004, the limit on bowhead whale hunting allows for the hunt of one whale every two years from the Hudson Bay-Foxe Basin population, and one whale every 13 years from the Baffin Bay-Davis Strait population.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/archives/40213/news/nunavut/40213_09.html |newspaper= Nunatsiaq News |title= Study approves limited bowhead whale hunt |access-date= 2013-08-07 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141129035426/http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/archives/40213/news/nunavut/40213_09.html |archive-date= 2014-11-29 }}</ref> 

=== Denmark ===
==== Faroe Islands ====
{{Main|Whaling in the Faroe Islands}}
[[File:Killed pilot wales in hvalba, faroe islands crop.JPG|thumb|Killed [[pilot whale]]s on the beach in [[Hvalba]], [[Faroe Islands]]]]

The traditional whale hunt, known as ''grindadráp'', is regulated by Faroese authorities but not by the IWC, which does not claim jurisdiction over small cetaceans. Around 800 [[long-finned pilot whale]]s (''Globicephala melaena'') are caught each year, mainly during the summer. Other species are not hunted, though occasionally [[Atlantic white-sided dolphin]] can be found among the pilot whales. {{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

==== Greenland ====
[[File:Whales Nordic.png|thumb|Whales caught per year]]

The Inuit mastered the art of whaling around the 11 century AD in the [[Bering Strait]]. The technique consisted of spearing a whale with a spear connected to an inflated seal bladder. The bladder would float and exhaust the whale when diving, and when it surfaced the Inuit hunters would spear it again, further exhausting the animal until they were able to kill it. [[Vikings in Greenland]] also ate whale meat, but archaeologists believe they never hunted them on the sea.<ref>[[Jared Diamond]]: [[Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed]], 2005</ref>

Greenlandic Inuit whalers catch around 175 large whales per year, mostly minke whales,<ref name="iwctotal">{{Cite web |url=https://iwc.int/total-catches |title=Total Catches |website=iwc.int |language=en |access-date=2018-03-23}}</ref> as well as 360 narwhals,<ref name="narwhals" /> 200 belugas,<ref name="Heide-Jorgensen">{{Cite web |last=Heide-Jorgensen |first=M.P. and E. Garde |date=2017-03-01 |title=Catch statistics for belugas in Greenland 1862 to 2016 |via=NAMMCO/JCNB Joint Working Group on narwhals and belugas, Copenhagen}}</ref><ref name="beluga">{{Cite journal |last1=Heide-Jørgensen |first1=M. P. |last2=Hansen |first2=R. G. |last3=Fossette |first3=S. |last4=Nielsen |first4=N. H. |last5=Borchers |first5=D. L. |last6=Stern |first6=H. |last7=Witting |first7=L. |date=2017-06-01 |title=Rebuilding beluga stocks in West Greenland (Supplement Table 1) |journal=Animal Conservation |language=en |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=282–293 |doi=10.1111/acv.12315 |issn=1469-1795|doi-access=free |hdl=10023/10882 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> 190 pilot whales and 2,300 porpoises.<ref name="statgl">{{Cite web |url=http://www.stat.gl/publ/en/SA/201007/tables/Catches.htm |title=Table 12, Catches |website=Statistics Greenland |access-date=2018-03-23}}</ref> The government of Greenland sets limits for narwhals and belugas. There are no limits on pilot whales and porpoises.<ref name="admin">{{Cite web |url=http://www.stat.gl/publ/en/SA/201007/content/Catching%20and%20Hunting.htm |title=Administration of Catching and Hunting |access-date=2018-03-23}}</ref>

The IWC treats the west and east coasts of Greenland as two separate population areas and sets separate quotas for each coast. The far more densely populated west coast accounts for over 90% of the catch. The average per year from 2012 to 2016 was around 150 minke and 17 fin whales and humpback whales taken from west coast waters and around 10 minke from east coast waters. In April 2009 Greenland landed its first bowhead whale in nearly 40 years. It landed three bowheads each year in 2009 and 2010, one each in 2011 and 2015.

In 2021 the [[Sermersooq]] municipal council banned whaling in [[Nuup Kangerlua]], one of the largest fjords in inhabited areas of Greenland. The council did not want hunting to kill the humpback whales seen by the local tourism industry. Before local humpback hunting resumed in 2010 there had been nine humpbacks in the fjord during summer. When hunting resumed some were killed and others left.<ref name="hakai-p">{{Cite news |last=Poulsen |first=Regin Winther  |date=2021-05-20 |title=Greenland Votes to Move Whaling Away from Tourists' Eyes |language=en |work=Hakai Magazine |url=https://www.hakaimagazine.com/news/greenland-votes-to-move-whaling-away-from-tourists-eyes/ |access-date=2021-05-27}}</ref><ref name="high">{{Cite news |date=2021-03-03 |title=Decision on Potential Humpback Whale Hunting Moratorium for Nuuk Fjord Today |work=High North News |url=https://www.highnorthnews.com/en/decision-potential-humpback-whale-hunting-moratorium-nuuk-fjord-today |access-date=2021-05-27}}</ref> Sermersooq has not banned whaling elsewhere in the municipality, which is the world's largest municipality, at 200,000 square miles on both coasts. {{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

=== Germany ===
Originally one of the most successful whaling nations, German whaling vessels started from [[Hamburg]] and other smaller cities on the [[Elbe]] River, hunting for whales around Greenland and [[Spitsbergen]]. While 1770 is recorded to have been the most successful year of German whaling, German whaling went into steep decline with the beginning of the [[Napoleonic Wars]] and never really recovered. After the Napoleonic Wars, Germany tried but could never re-establish a successful whaling industry. {{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

German whaling ships in the mid to late 19th century would generally not be staffed with experienced sailors but rather with members of more wealthy farming communities, going for short trips to [[Scandinavia]] during the end of spring and beginning of summer, when their labor was not required on the fields. This kind of whaling was ineffective. Many journeys would not lead to any whales caught, instead seal- and polar bear skins were brought back to shore. Communities often paid more for equipping the vessels in the first place than making money with the goods brought back to shore. Today, local historians believe that German whaling in the late 19th century was more a rite of passage for the sons of wealthy farmers from northern German islands than an action undertaken for true commercial reason. German whaling was abandoned in 1872. {{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

Prior to the [[First World War]], the newly established [[German Empire]] attempted to re-establish large scale German whaling. This was undertaken with ships either going from Germany to Iceland or from the newly established [[List of former German colonies|German colonies]] to African waters. These attempts never were commercially successful and quickly given up. Only in the 1930s could Germany—with mainly Norwegian personnel—re-establish a large and successful whaling industry. More than 15,000 whales were caught between 1930 and 1939. With the beginning of the [[Second World War]], German whaling was abandoned completely. In the early 1950s, Germany maintained one whaling vessel for testing purpose as it considered re-establishing a German whaling fleet, but abandoned these plans in 1956. The last remaining German whalers worked for Dutch vessels in the 1950s and 1960s. {{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

=== Iceland ===
{{Main|Whaling in Iceland}}
[[File:Iceland, Hvalfjörður (14), abandoned whaling ships and factory.jpg|thumb|Hvalur hf.'s whaling station at Hvalfjörður (2023), with 2 abandoned whaling vessels. It owns 2 similar operational ships.]]
[[File:Mink Whale Meat Iceland.JPG|thumb|Minke whale meat kebabs, sold in Reykjavík, Iceland, 2009]]
Iceland is one of a handful of countries which still host a (privately owned) whaling fleet. One company ([[Hvalur hf.]]) concentrates on hunting fin whales, largely for export to Japan, while the only other one hunts minke whales for domestic consumption, as the meat is [[Tourism in Iceland|popular with tourists]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Boffey|first1=Daniel|title=Iceland sets target of 191 kills as country resumes whaling|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/18/iceland-sets-target-of-191-kills-as-country-resumes-whaling|access-date=19 April 2018|work=The Guardian|date=18 April 2018|language=en}}</ref> Iceland has its own [[whale watching]] sector, which exists in uneasy tension with the whaling industry.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Marianne Rasmussen|author-link1=Marianne Rasmussen|title=The whaling versus whale-watching debate: The resumption of Icelandic whaling {{!}} Whale Watching: Sustainable Tourism and Environmental Management|publisher=Cambridge University Press|chapter=7}}</ref>

Iceland did not object to the 1986 IWC moratorium. Between 1986 and 1989 around 60 animals per year were taken under a scientific permit. However, under strong pressure from anti-whaling countries, who viewed scientific whaling as a circumvention of the moratorium,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hutchins |first=Rob |date=2024-11-22 |title=Whaling in Iceland: "Whale murder isn't even the worst of it" |url=https://oceanographicmagazine.com/news/whaling-in-iceland-whale-murder-isn-t-even-the-worst-of-it/#:~:text=In%201989,%20international%20pressure%20and,vulnerable%20species%20like%20fin%20whales. |access-date=2025-04-11 |website=Oceanographic |language=en-GB}}</ref> Iceland ceased whaling in 1989. Following the IWC's 1991 refusal to accept its Scientific Committee's recommendation to allow sustainable commercial whaling, Iceland left the IWC in 1992.

Iceland rejoined the IWC in 2002 with a reservation to the moratorium. Iceland presented a feasibility study to the 2003 IWC meeting for catches in 2003 and 2004. The primary aim of the study was to deepen the understanding of fish–whale interactions. Amid disagreement within the IWC Scientific Committee about the value of the research and its relevance to IWC objectives,<ref>{{cite web | url = http://iwc.int/conservation/permits.htm#iceland | publisher = [[International Whaling Commission|IWC]] | title = Recent Icelandic Proposal on scientific permits | access-date = 2007-03-19}}</ref> no decision on the proposal was reached. However, under the terms of the convention the Icelandic government issued permits for a scientific catch. In 2003 Iceland resumed scientific whaling which continued in 2004 and 2005.

Iceland resumed commercial whaling in 2006. Its annual quota was 30 minke whales (out of an estimated 174,000 animals in the central and north-eastern North Atlantic<ref name=IWCEstimate>{{cite web| url = http://iwc.int/estimate | publisher = [[International Whaling Commission]] | title = Whale Population Estimates | access-date = 2006-12-03}}</ref>) and nine fin whales (out of an estimated 30,000 animals in the central and north-eastern North Atlantic<ref name=IWCEstimate /><ref>{{cite news|url=http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2006-10-17T142254Z_01_L17824455_RTRUKOC_0_US-ENVIRONMENT-WHALING.xml |work=[[Reuters]] |title=Iceland to resume commercial whaling hunts |date=2006-10-17 |access-date=2006-12-03 }}{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>). For the 2012 commercial whaling season, starting in April and lasting six months, the quota was set to 216 minke whales,<ref>{{cite news |title=Commercial Minke Whaling to Start in April |url=http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/Commercial_Minke_Whaling_to_Start_in_April_0_388729.news.aspx |newspaper=[[Iceland Review]] Online |date=1 April 2012 |access-date=24 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120506103949/http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/Commercial_Minke_Whaling_to_Start_in_April_0_388729.news.aspx |archive-date=6 May 2012 }}</ref> of which 52 were caught.<ref>{{cite web |title= Catches taken: under objection or under reservation|url=https://iwc.int/table_objection |publisher = [[International Whaling Commission]] |access-date=2017-03-20}}</ref> Iceland did not hunt any whales in 2019, and it is reported that demand for whale meat decreased in that year.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://theconversation.com/iceland-didnt-hunt-any-whales-in-2019-and-public-appetite-for-whale-meat-is-fading-127504|title=Iceland didn't hunt any whales in 2019 – and public appetite for whale meat is fading|last=Roman|first=Joe|website=The Conversation|date=21 January 2020 |language=en|access-date=2020-02-12}}</ref>

=== Indonesia ===
[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Walvisvaarders bij Lamakera Solor ten oosten van Flores TMnr 10010872.jpg|thumb|Lamakera whale hunters in a traditional boat called [[paledang]], {{circa|1900}}]]
Lamalera, on the south coast of the island of [[Lembata]], and [[Lamakera]] on neighbouring [[Solor]], are the two remaining Indonesian whaling communities. The hunters obey religious taboos that ensure that they use every part of the animal. About half of the catch is kept in the village; the rest is bartered in local markets.

In 1973, the [[United Nations]]'s [[Food and Agriculture Organization]] (FAO) sent a whaling ship and a Norwegian whaler to modernize their hunt. This effort lasted three years and was not successful. According to the FAO report, the Lamalerans "have evolved a method of whaling which suits their natural resources, cultural tenets and style."<ref name=":1">{{cite journal|last=Bruemmer|first=Fred|year=2001|title=Sea hunters of Lamalera|journal=Natural History|volume=110|issue=8|pages=54–59 |issn=0028-0712}}</ref> Lamalerans say they returned the ship because they immediately caught five sperm whales, too many to butcher and eat without refrigeration.<ref name="smh">{{Cite news|url=https://www.smh.com.au/news/whale-watch/in-for-the-kill-last-of-the-ancient-whalers/2008/03/07/1204780065634.html|title=In for the kill, last of the ancient whalers|last=Broadhead|first=Ivan|date=2008-03-08|work=Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=2018-05-06|language=en}}</ref> Since these communities only hunt whales for noncommercial purposes, it is categorized as 'aboriginal subsistence hunters' by the IWC.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32429447|title=Hunting whales with rowing boats and spears|last=Brown|first=Taylor Kate|date=2015-04-26|work=BBC News|access-date=2018-11-08|language=en-GB}}</ref>
[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Bewoners van kampong Lamakera bekijken een gevangen walvis Noordoost-Solor TMnr 10006615.jpg|thumb|The catch of lamakerans]]
The Lamalerans hunt for several species of whales but catching sperm whales are preferable, while other whales, such as baleen whales, are considered taboo to hunt.<ref name=":1" /> They caught five sperm whales in 1973; they averaged about 40 per year from the 1960s through the mid 1990s, 13 total from 2002 to 2006, 39 in 2007,<ref name="smh" /> an average of 20 per year 2008 through 2014, and caught 3 in 2015.<ref name="spice">{{Cite web |url=https://spiceislandsblog.com/2015/10/23/the-whale-hunters-of-lamalera/ |title=The Whale Hunters of Lamalera |last=Burnet |first=Ian |date=2015-10-23 |website=spiceislandsblog |language=en-US |access-date=2018-05-06}}</ref>

Traditional Lamaleran whaling used wooden fishing boats built by a group of local craftsmen clan called ''ata molã,'' and the fishermen will mourn the "death" of their ships for two months.<ref name=":1" /> These days, the Lamalerans use a motor engine to power their boats; however, their tradition dictates that once a whale has been caught, fishermen will have to row their boats and the whale back to the shore. The traditional practices made whaling a dangerous hunt. In one case, a boat was pulled approximately 120&nbsp;km away towards [[Timor]] (see [[Nantucket sleighride]]), while in another case, the hunted whale capsized the boat and forced the fishermen to swim for 12 hours back to the shore.<ref name=":2" />

=== Japan ===
{{Main|Whaling in Japan}}
{{wide image|Traditional Whaling in Taiji.jpg|1000px|Japanese narrative screen showing a whale hunt off [[Wakayama Prefecture|Wakayama]]}}
When the commercial whaling moratorium was introduced by the IWC in 1982, [[Japan]] lodged an official objection. However, in response to US threats to cut Japan's fishing quota in US territorial waters under the terms of the [[Bob Packwood|Packwood]]-Magnuson Amendment, Japan withdrew its objection in 1987. According to the [[BBC]], the US went back on this promise, effectively destroying the deal.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6659401.stm |publisher= BBC |title= Did Greens help kill the whale?}}</ref> Since Japan could not resume commercial whaling, it began whaling on a purported scientific-research basis. [[Australia]], [[Greenpeace]], the [[Australian Marine Conservation Society]], [[Sea Shepherd Conservation Society]] and other groups dispute the Japanese claim of research "as a disguise for commercial whaling, which is banned."<ref name="timesonline.co.uk">{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3325580.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100603053329/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3325580.ece |archive-date=June 3, 2010 |title=Australia condemns bloody killing of whale and calf by Japanese fleet|newspaper=The Sunday Times| date = 8 February 2008 | location=London | first=Paul | last=Larter}}</ref><ref name="bloomberg.com">{{cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aPhG1CfyPue0|title=Kyokuyo Joins Maruha to End Whale Meat Sales in Japan|publisher=Bloomberg|date=30 May 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009122448/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101|archive-date=9 October 2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.marineconservation.org.au/australian-government-must-take-action-as-japan-kills-whales-again/|title=Australian Government must take action as Japan kills whales again|date=2017-12-15|website=Australian Marine Conservation Society|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-12}}</ref> The [[Sea Shepherd Conservation Society]] has attempted to disrupt Japanese whaling in the Antarctic since 2003 but eventually ceased this activity in 2017 due to little achievement in creating change.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-41078698|title=Sea Shepherd to stop chasing Japan whalers|date=2017-08-29|work=BBC News|access-date=2020-02-12|language=en-GB}}</ref> Other NGOs such as the Australian Marine Conservation Society and [[Humane Society International]] continued to campaign against Japan's scientific whaling program and block votes at IWC to bring back commercial whaling.

The stated purpose of the research program is to establish the size and dynamics of whale populations.<ref name="Q&A">{{Cite web|url=https://www.icrwhale.org/QandA3.html|title=ICR: Japan's whale research programs (JARPN and JARPNII)|website=www.icrwhale.org|access-date=2019-07-06}}</ref> The Japanese government wishes to resume whaling in a sustainable manner under the oversight of the IWC, both for whale products (meat, etc.) and to help preserve fishing resources by culling whales. Anti-whaling organizations claim that the research program is a front for commercial whaling, that the sample size is needlessly large and that equivalent information can be obtained by non-lethal means, for example by studying samples of whale tissue (such as skin) or feces.<ref>[http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/features/Whaling-whale-meat-vindication-231210/ Whaling on trial: Vindication!]. Greenpeace.org (2010-12-23). Retrieved on 2011-10-11.</ref> The Japanese government sponsored [[Institute of Cetacean Research]] (ICR), which conducts the research, disagrees, stating that the information obtainable from tissue and/or feces samples is insufficient and that the sample size is necessary in order to be representative.<ref name="Q&A" />
[[File:Japan Factory Ship Nisshin Maru Whaling Mother and Calf.jpg|thumb|An adult and sub-adult [[minke whale]] are dragged aboard the ''[[Nisshin Maru]]'', a Japanese whaling vessel.]]
Japan's scientific whaling program is controversial in [[anti-whaling]] countries.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Urbina|first=Ian|date=November 18, 2016|title=Antarctica: The Hunt for Hunters|url=https://www.theoutlawocean.com/reporting/antarctica-hunt-for-hunters/|access-date=February 28, 2021|archive-date=February 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228094606/https://www.theoutlawocean.com/reporting/antarctica-hunt-for-hunters/}}</ref> Countries opposed to whaling have passed non-binding resolutions in the IWC urging Japan to stop the program. Japan claims that whale stocks for some species are sufficiently large to sustain commercial hunting and blame filibustering by the anti-whaling side for the continuation of scientific whaling. Deputy whaling commissioner, Joji Morishita, told [[BBC News]]:<blockquote>The reason for the moratorium [on commercial whaling] was scientific uncertainty about the number of whales. ... It was a moratorium for the sake of collecting data and that is why we started scientific whaling. We were asked to collect more data.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7153594.stm | work=BBC News | title=Whaling: The Japanese position | date=2008-01-15}}</ref></blockquote>This collusive relationship between the whaling industry and the Japanese government is sometimes criticized by pro-whaling activists who support local, small-scale coastal whaling such as the [[Taiji dolphin drive hunt]].<ref name="The Dolphin Drive Hunt">{{cite book|title=The Dolphin Drive Hunt – A Scientist's Memoir of His Time in Taiji|last=Sekiguchi|first=Yuske|date=October 7, 2012|publisher=Suzuki&Smith Publishing|location=Tokyo}}</ref>

In September 2018, Japan chaired the 67th IWC meeting in Brazil and attempted to pass a motion to lift the moratorium on commercial whaling. Japan did not receive enough votes and the IWC rejected the motion.<ref name="marineconservation.org.au">{{Cite web|url=https://www.marineconservation.org.au/media-release-japan-pulls-out-of-iwc-and-turns-their-back-on-global-whale-conservation/|title=Media Release: Japan pulls out of IWC, turns back on whale conservation|date=2018-12-26|website=Australian Marine Conservation Society|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-12}}</ref> Subsequently, on 26 December 2018, Japan announced that it would withdraw its membership from the IWC, because in its opinion, the IWC had failed its duty to promote [[sustainable hunting]] as the culture within the IWC moved towards an anti-whaling, pro-conservation agenda. Japanese officials also announced they will resume commercial hunting within its territorial waters and its 200-mile [[exclusive economic zone]]s starting in July 2019, but it will cease whaling activities in the Antarctic Ocean, the northwest Pacific Ocean, and the [[Australian Whale Sanctuary]].<ref name='CNN Dec 2018'>[https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/25/asia/japan-withdrawal-international-whaling-commission-intl/index.html "IWC withdrawal: Japan to resume commercial whaling in 2019"]. Euan McKirdy, Emiko Jozuka, Junko Ogura. ''CNN News''. 26 December 2018.</ref><ref name='NYT Dec 2018'>[https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/26/world/asia/japan-whaling-withdrawal.html "Japan to Resume Commercial Whaling, Defying International Ban"]. ''The New York Times''. 26 December 2018.</ref><ref name="marineconservation.org.au" />

In 2019, the Australian Marine Conservation Society and [[International Fund for Animal Welfare]] commissioned legal opinion, which concluded that Japan's commercial whaling program within its territorial waters breaks international convention and law and that Japan makes itself vulnerable to potential international legal action.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.marineconservation.org.au/japans-commercial-whale-hunting-risks-international-legal-action-says-new-legal-opinion/|title=Japan's commercial whale hunting risks international legal action, says new legal opinion|date=2019-06-26|website=Australian Marine Conservation Society|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-12}}</ref>

=== Norway ===
{{Main|Whaling in Norway}}
[[File:NorwegianWhaleCatches.png|thumb|Norwegian catches (1946–2005) in red and quotas (1994–2006) in blue of minke whale, from Norwegian official statistics]]

[[Norway]] registered an objection to the International Whaling Commission moratorium and is thus not bound by it. Commercial whaling ceased for a five-year period to allow a small scientific catch for gauging the stock's sustainability; whaling subsequently resumed in 1993. Minke whales are the only legally hunted species. Catches have fluctuated between 487 animals in 2000 to 592 in 2007. For the year 2011 the quota is set at 1,286 [[minke whale]]s.<ref>[http://www.p4.no/story.aspx?id=388242 "Same whale quota as this year"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929212921/http://www.p4.no/story.aspx?id=388242 |date=2011-09-29 }}. P4.no (2010-12-17). Retrieved on 2011-10-11.</ref> The catch is made solely from the Northeast Atlantic minke whale population, which is estimated at 102,000.<ref>2008 IWC</ref>

=== Philippines ===
{{Main|Whaling in the Philippines}}
Whaling in the Philippines has been illegal since 1997 since the Fisheries Administrative Order 185 of 1991 was amended. The order initially only made illegal the catching, selling, or transporting of dolphins but the 1997 amendment widened the scope of the ban to include all [[cetacea]]ns including whales.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web|url=http://www.murdoch.edu.au/Research-capabilities/Asia-Research-Centre/_document/working-papers/wp161.pdf|title=Historical whaling in the Philippines: origins of 'indigenous subsistence whaling', mapping whaling grounds and comparison with current known distribution: An HMAP Asia Project Paper|last=Acebes|first=Jo Marie|publisher=Asia-Research-Centre|access-date=24 December 2013|archive-date=24 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224112328/http://www.murdoch.edu.au/Research-capabilities/Asia-Research-Centre/_document/working-papers/wp161.pdf}}</ref> The calls for ban on whaling and dolphin hunting in the Philippines were raised by both domestic and international groups after local whaling and dolphin hunting traditions of residents of [[Pamilacan]] in Bohol were featured in newspapers in the 1990s. As compromise for residents of Pamilacan who were dependent on whaling and dolphin hunting, whale and dolphin watching is being promoted in the island as a source of tourism income.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/254049/news/regions/in-the-wild-bohol-s-dolphins-and-whales|title=In the wild: Bohol's dolphins and whales|last=Acebes|first=Jo Marie|date=6 April 2012|newspaper=GMA News|access-date=4 January 2014}}</ref> Despite the ban, it is believed that the whaling industry in the Philippines did not cease to exist but went underground.<ref name=autogenerated1 />

=== Russia ===
{{Main|Whaling in the Soviet Union and Russia}}
The [[Soviet Union|USSR]] had a significant whaling hunt of orcas and dolphins along with Iceland and Japan. The [[Soviet Union]]'s harvest of over 534,000 whales between the 1930s and the 1980s has been called "one of the most senseless environmental crimes of the 20th century" by Charles Homans of the ''[[Pacific Standard]]''.<ref>{{Cite news|url = https://psmag.com/social-justice/the-senseless-environment-crime-of-the-20th-century-russia-whaling-67774|title = The Most Senseless Environmental Crime of the 20th Century|date = November 12, 2013|access-date = October 12, 2015|website = Pacific Standard|publisher = The Miller-McCune Center for Research, Media and Public Policy|last = Homans|first = Charles}}</ref> In 1970, a study published by Bigg M.A. following photographic recognition of orcas found a significant difference in the suspected ages of whale populations and their actual ages. Following this evidence, the Soviet Union and then Russia continued a scientific whale hunt, though the verisimilitude of the intentions of the hunt over the last 40 years are questioned.<ref>University of Victoria Biology of the Vertebrates of BC lecture material, Dr. T.E. Reimchen</ref><ref>[http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/science/coe-cde/cemam/teams-equipes/Ford/publications-eng.html Department of Fisheries and Oceans&nbsp;– Science] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304043633/https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/science/coe-cde/cemam/teams-equipes/Ford/publications-eng.html |date=2016-03-04 }}. Dfo-mpo.gc.ca (2011-03-07). Retrieved on 2011-10-11.</ref>

The Soviet Union's intensive illegal whaling program from 1948 to 1973 was controlled and managed by the central government. In Soviet society, whaling was perceived to be a glamorous and well-paid job. Whalers were esteemed as well-traveled adventurers, and their return to land was often celebrated elaborately such as with fanfare and parades. In regard to economics, the Soviet Union transformed from a "rural economy into an industrial giant" by disregarding the sustainability of a resource to fill high production targets.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url = http://spo.nmfs.noaa.gov/mfr761-2/mfr761-21.pdf|title = Too much is never enough: the cautionary tale of Soviet illegal whaling|date = March 2014|access-date = October 28, 2015|website = NOAA|publisher = Marine Fisheries Review|last = Ivaschenko|first = Y.V.}}</ref> The government had controlled all industries, including fisheries, and whaling was not constrained by the need for sustainability through profits. Managers' and workers' production was incentivized with salary bonuses of 25%-60% and various other benefits, awards, and privileges. Many industries, whaling included, became a "manic numbers game".<ref name=":0" />

Currently, the indigenous [[Chukchi people]] in [[Chukotka Autonomous Okrug]] in the [[Russian Far East]] are permitted under IWC regulation to take up to 140 [[gray whale]]s from the North-East Pacific population each year. About 40{{Failed verification|date=April 2024}} [[beluga whale]]s are caught in the Sea of Okhotsk each year.<ref name="bettridge">{{Cite web |url=http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/documents/status_review_of_sakhalin_bay-amur_river_beluga_whale.pdf |title=Status Review of the Sakhalin Bay-Amur River Beluga Whale (Delphinapterus leucas) under the Marine Mammal Protection Act |last=Bettridge |first=Shannon, Robert L. Brownell Jr., Melissa Andersen Garcia, Rod C. Hobbs, Cheri L. McCarty, Richard D. Methot Jr., Debra L. Palka, Patricia E. Rosel, Kathryn S. Swails, and Barbara L. Taylor |date=2016-03-01 |website=cites Shpak, Meschersky, Hobbs, Andrews, Glazov, Chelintsev, Kuznetsova, Solovyev, Nazarenko, Michaud, and Mukhametov. 2011. Current status of the Sakhalin-Amur beluga aggregation (The Okhotsk Sea, Russia): sustainability assessment. Report for 2007–2010 stages: Report presented at IUCN Independent Scientific Review Panel, Chicago, March 6–7, 2011 (unpublished). 68p and 5 Appendices. |access-date=2018-04-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170430213702/http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/documents/status_review_of_sakhalin_bay-amur_river_beluga_whale.pdf |archive-date=2017-04-30 }}</ref>
There are no recent data on catches in the Arctic Ocean or Bering Sea, where about 60 belugas per year were caught in the early 1980s.<ref name="burns">{{Cite web |url=https://www.boem.gov/ESPIS/0/81.pdf |title=Investigations of Belukha Whales in Coastal Waters of Western and Northern Alaska II. Biology and Ecology  |last=Burns |first=John J. and Glenn A. Seaman |date=1986-11-01 |series=Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Assessment Program |publisher=Alaska Department of Fish and Game |access-date=2018-04-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180327213932/https://www.boem.gov/ESPIS/0/81.pdf |archive-date=2018-03-27 }}</ref>

=== Saint Vincent and the Grenadines ===
[[File:whalemeat.jpg|thumb|Boy in [[Bequia]] in the [[Grenadines]] carrying meat of a [[humpback whale]] (2007)]]
Natives of [[Saint Vincent and the Grenadines]] on the island of [[Bequia]] have a quota from the International Whaling Commission of up to four [[humpback whale]]s per year.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://us.whales.org/our-4-goals/stop-whaling/aboriginal-subsistence-whaling/|title=Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling}}</ref><ref name=BBC>{{cite news | title = Indigenous whaling bids granted after 'racism' claim | url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18693753 | publisher = [[BBC]] | date = 2012-07-03 | first1=Richard | last1=Black}}</ref>
Their quota allows up to four humpback whales per year using only traditional hunting methods of hand-thrown harpoons in small, open sailboats. The limit is rarely met, with no catch some years.<ref name=Hamaguchi2013>{{cite journal|last1=Hamaguchi|first1=Hisashi|title=Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling in Bequia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines|journal=Senri Ethnological Studies|date=2013|volume=84|pages=137–154|url=http://ir.minpaku.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/10502/5019/1/SES84_07.pdf}}{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
Its classification as aboriginal, and therefore permissible, is highly contested. In the 2012 meeting of the IWC, delegates from several anti-whaling countries, and environmental groups, spoke out against it, calling it "artisanal whaling out of control".<ref name=BBC />

The meat is sold commercially and 82% of Bequia residents consume it at least occasionally, though it is subject to high levels of methyl mercury.<ref name="fielding">{{Cite journal |last1=Fielding |first1=Russell |last2=Kiszka |first2=Jeremy J. |last3=MacDonald |first3=Catherine |last4=McCormack |first4=Meaghan A. |last5=Dutton |first5=Jessica |last6=Ollivierre |first6=Alison D. |last7=Arnett |first7=James A. |last8=Elkins |first8=Molly |last9=Darby |first9=Niko A. |last10=Garcia |first10=Hannah-Marie |last11=Skinner |first11=Suzanne |last12=Tucker |first12=Haley |last13=Reid |first13=Vincent |title=Demographic and geographic patterns of cetacean-based food product consumption and potential mercury exposure within a Caribbean whaling community |journal=Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal |date=2021 |volume=27 |issue=6 |pages=1671–1695 |doi=10.1080/10807039.2020.1870865 |bibcode=2021HERA...27.1671F |id={{doi-inline|10.21203/rs.3.rs-33554|Preprint}}}}</ref>

Residents of the town of [[Barrouallie]] hunt and sell meat from short-finned pilot whales and several dolphin species, including killer whales and false killer whales. 92% of people from the town, and high fractions from nearby towns, eat this meat at least occasionally. Sellers call this meat "black fish" without regard to species. Its levels of [[methyl mercury]] mean that consumption needs to be less than a serving every three weeks. However the mercury danger is not well known in the country. As of 2020 the government is considering banning the hunt of killer whales.<ref name="fielding" />

=== South Korea ===

Commercial whaling was banned in 1986 in South Korea in keeping with the IWC issued global moratorium on whale hunting.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dodds |first=Margaux |date=2023-08-25 |title=Illegal killing of minke whales in South Korea {{!}} Marine Connection |url=https://marineconnection.org/illegal-killing-of-minke-whales-in-south-korea/ |access-date=2024-10-11 |language=en-US}}</ref> In early July 2012, during IWC discussions in Panama, South Korea said it would undertake scientific whaling as allowed despite the global moratorium on whaling. Due to a loud global outcry, South Korea abandoned this plan and has not resumed any form of whaling program.<ref>{{Cite news |last=McCurry |first=Justin |date=2012-12-06 |title=South Korea drops plans to resume whaling |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/dec/06/south-korea-drops-plan-whaling |access-date=2024-10-11 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

There is still a loophole in South Korean laws that allows fishermen to keep any bycatch including whales. All whales caught accidentally must be reported and is then inspected for harpoon injuries. The meat from these whales can then be sold, which can be very lucrative for fishermen who can earn up to 200 million won ($150,000 US) per minke whale. This loophole has led to high numbers of whale, dolphin and other cetacean deaths. In 2023, the number was 866 recorded deaths, which is a sizable reduction from a high of 2,014 cases in 2019 and 1,066 in 2022, but is still worryingly high.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=2023-08-26 |author-last1=Park|author-first1=Chan-kyong|title=South Korea is failing whales, activists say as they call for bycatch ban |url=https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3232345/south-korea-urged-ban-sale-whale-meat-disguised-lotto-sea-bycatch |access-date=2024-10-11 |website=South China Morning Post |language=en}}</ref> Fishermen who abuse this loophole have been arrested and prosecuted, but activists have spoken out against this loophole, and demanded more protections for whales and better accounting for those caught and killed.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hoon |first=Moon Ki |date=2023-08-25 |title=Illegal whaling bust nabs 55 individuals responsible for killing 17 whales |url=https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20230825000537 |access-date=2024-10-11 |website=The Korea Herald |language=en}}</ref>

Due to their concern, and the higher than the global average numbers of bycatch cetacean deaths, 15 members of the Korean Parliament put forward a bill in 2023 to ban the consumption of whale meat and to have a more rigorous inspection of all whale carcasses by Coast Guards. Activists also want to have a database created that would help authorities spot more easily those who are using the loophole to illegally hunt whales.<ref name=":3" />

The Bill raises hopes for better protections for whales but it will have to face a culture with deep historical, geographical and cultural ties to whale meat, and opposition from the commercial fishing industry.<ref name=":3" />

=== United Kingdom ===
{{Excerpt|Whaling in the United Kingdom}}

=== United States ===
{{Main|Whaling in the United States}}
[[File:Hopson Whaling Crew.jpg|thumb|A traditional whaling crew in [[Alaska]]]]
[[File:Whales party for oil wells.JPG|thumb|Whales party upon [[Pennsylvania oil rush|newly discovered oil in Pennsylvania]] in [[Vanity Fair (magazine)|''Vanity Fair'']] magazine on April 20, 1861]]
In the United States, beluga whaling is widely carried out, catching about 300 belugas per year,<ref name="sar2017" />
monitored by the Alaska Beluga Whale Committee. The [[Beluga whale#Beluga catches by location|annual catch]] ranges between 250 and 600 per year.

[[Subsistence hunting of the bowhead whale]] is carried out by nine different indigenous Alaskan communities, and is managed by the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission which reports to the [[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]]. The hunt takes around 50 [[bowhead whale]]s a year from a population of about 10,500 in Alaskan waters. Conservationists fear this hunt is not sustainable, though the IWC Scientific Committee, the same group that provided the above population estimate, projects a population growth of 3.2% per year. Bowhead whales weigh approximately 5–10 times as much as [[minke whale]]s. The hunt also took an average of one or two gray whales each year until 1996. The quota was reduced to zero in that year due to sustainability concerns. A future review may result in the gray whale hunt being resumed.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/guides/456900/456973/html/nn6page1.stm|work= BBC News | title=In Depth}}</ref>

The [[Makah people|Makah]] tribe in [[Washington (state)|Washington state]] also reinstated whaling in 1999, despite protests from animal rights groups. They are currently{{when|date=January 2019}} seeking to resume whaling of the [[gray whale]],<ref>[http://www.nwr.noaa.gov/Marine-Mammals/Whales-Dolphins-Porpoise/Gray-Whales/Makah-Whale-Hunt.cfm Makah Whale Hunt] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207110406/http://www.nwr.noaa.gov/Marine-Mammals/Whales-Dolphins-Porpoise/Gray-Whales/Makah-Whale-Hunt.cfm |date=February 7, 2012 }}. Nwr.noaa.gov. Retrieved on 2011-10-11.</ref> a right recognized in the [[Treaty of Neah Bay]], within limits (Article 4 of the Treaty).

{| class="wikitable" style="float:left; text-align:center; margin:0 1em 0 0;"
|-
! Season
! Catch<ref>[http://www.iwcoffice.org/meetings/chair2007.htm 2007 Chair's report] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120626020441/http://www.iwcoffice.org/meetings/chair2007.htm |date=June 26, 2012 }}. Iwcoffice.org. Retrieved on 2011-10-11.</ref> <!-- Is this the catch for just the Mahah people? -->
|-
! 2003
| 48
|-
! 2004
| 43
|-
! 2005
| 68
|-
! 2006
| 39
|-
! 2007
| 63
|-
| colspan=2 | All catches in 2003–2007 were [[bowhead whale]]s.
|}

{{clear}}

== See also ==
* [[Harpoon]]
* [[Flensing]], processing of caught whales
* [[Sperm whaling]]
* [[Dolphin drive hunting]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* [[Jakobina Arch]], ''[[Bringing Whales Ashore]]: Oceans and the Environment of Early Modern Japan.'' Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books. (Seattle:  University of Washington Press, 2018)
* [[D. Graham Burnett]], ''The Sounding of the Whale'' (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2013)
* Mark Cioc, ''The Game of Conservation: International Treaties to Protect the World's Migratory Species'' (Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2009), Chapter 3 "The Antarctic Whale Massacre", pp.&nbsp;104–147
* [[Kurkpatrick Dorsey]], "National Sovereignty, the International Whaling Commission, and the Save the Whales Movement," in ''Nation-States and the Global Environment. New Approaches to International Environmental History'', Erika Marie Bsumek, David Kinkela and Mark Atwood Lawrence, eds., (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), pp.&nbsp;43–61
* [[Kurkpatrick Dorsey]], ''Whales and Nations: Environmental Diplomacy on the High Seas'' (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2014)
* Charlotte Epstein, ''The Power of Words in International Relations: Birth of an Anti-Whaling Discourse'' (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005)
* Anna-Katharina Wöbse, ''Weltnaturschutz: Umweltdiplomatie in Völkerbund und Vereinten Nationen, 1920–1950'' (Frankfurt: Campus, 2011), Chapter 6 Der Reichtum der Meere, pp.&nbsp;171–245
* Frank Zelko, ''Make It a Green Peace!: The Rise of Countercultural Environmentalism'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), Chapters 7–9, pp.&nbsp;161–231
* Lyubomir Ivanov and Nusha Ivanova. Whaling period. In: [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/364087925_The_World_of_Antarctica ''The World of Antarctica''.] Generis Publishing, 2022. pp.&nbsp;91–94. {{ISBN|979-8-88676-403-1}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/whaling/ Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170213072214/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/whaling/player/ |date=2017-02-13 }}&nbsp;– An [[American Experience]] Documentary
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=uOQDAAAAMBAJ&dq=popular+mechanics+1930+aircraft&pg=PA787 "Old Whaling Days"], ''Popular Mechanics'', November 1930
* "The Cruise of the Cachalot" by Frank T. Bullen is a book published in 1899 which gives a good background to whaling of the times.
* ''[http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/exhibition/3_1.html On the Water: Fishing for a Living] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201217165952/http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/exhibition/3_1.html |date=2020-12-17 }}''&nbsp;– Online museum exhibition on maritime history from the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History
* [https://www.marineconservation.org.au/whaling/ Whaling] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200213033803/https://www.marineconservation.org.au/whaling/ |date=2020-02-13 }} – Australian Marine Conservation Society Whaling
* [https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/whaling-logs/ Whaling depicted in ship logbooks' art]

{{Whaling}}
{{Cetacea}}
{{Fishery science topics}}
{{Fisheries and fishing}}
{{Mammals in culture}}
{{Animal welfare}}
{{Hunting topics}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Whaling| ]]
[[Category:Marine occupations]]
[[Category:Whales and humans]]