Historically, whaling can be divided in 6 main periods, some of which overlap:
(1400-1700): Hunting in the north Atlantic by Europeans.
(1600 – 1900): Hunting moved north between Spitzbergen and Greenland.
(1800 -): American whalers into the Pacific.
As “fast fishing” techniques improved in the 18th Century, American whalers exploited Sperm Whale oil around the world.
(1880 -): The explosive harpoon was used for the first time and species were hunted in all oceans by American, British, 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. Whale population fell by 80-90% across major species.
By 1946 the newly-founded United Nations passed the International Convention for
the Regulation of Whaling after an International agreement that the destruction could
not go on. During the 1960s and 1970s, more species of whale became protected from
commercial hunting. In 1986 a general moratorium of commercial whaling was
implemented.
Whales & Whaling
