Whaling

Whaling is the hunting and killing of whales. Historically, poor conservation management by many nations led to far more whales being killed than could be sustained and to near extinction of several species. Whales are killed by firing a harpoon near the head of the animal. An explosive charge inside the harpoon then explodes beneath the whale's skin, killing it.

The history of whaling

Main article: History of whaling

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Humans have hunted whales since time immemorial. The oldest records of whale hunts are rock carvings found in South Korea that date back to 6000 BC. Since that time, whalers have grown ever more technically sophisticated. Historical whaling can be divided into six main stages, some of them overlapping:

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• The Basque fishery (1400-1700): Hunting in the North Atlantic by Europeans; the Atlantic Northern Right Whale was a major target.
• The Atlantic Arctic fishery (1600-1900): Hunting moved north to around Spitzbergen, Greenland and in between.
• The Pacific fishery (1800-): American whalers moved into Pacific, targeting the Pacific Northern Right Whale.
• The Sperm Whale fishery: As "fast fishing" techniques improved in the eighteenth century American whalers learned that the Sperm Whale contains valuable oil and exploited it around the world.
• The rorqual fishery (~1880-): the explosive harpoon was used for the first time and was devastingly effective in enabling the whaling of the very large rorquals in significant numbers. Species were hunted in all oceans by British, American, Japanese, Icelandic and Norwegian whalers amongst others. Huge "factory ships" which carried out the processing of the meat whilst still at sea enabled whalers to stay at sea for months on end. Population numbers fell by 80-90% across the major rorqual species.
• By 1946 the international community decided that the destruction should not go on and the newly-founded United Nations passed the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. More and more species became protected from commercial hunting in the 1960s and 70s. In 1982 the International Whaling Commission members agreed a general moratorium of commercial whaling that was implemented in 1986.

For full details see the History of whaling article

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