The whaling that continues today falls under two broad categories.

First, local and international authorities permit some communities with a history of subsistence whaling to continue such traditional practices; examples of this include the Inuit in Canada and some groups in Indonesia.

Representatives of these groups claim that whaling represents an integral part of their cultures and provides an important dietary resource.

In these communities, whalers hunt for whales in the traditional fashion in smaller boats, although rifles now often replace harpoons or spears.

The second category includes those hunts permitted by the IWC under its so-called scientific exception, which allows limited whaling for research purposes.

The controversial Japanese whale hunt in Antarctic waters is an example of modern research whaling.

Critics claim that this exception is merely a cover for whaling for meat or oil and that killing whales is unnecessary for research or conservation.

In addition, the IWC rules do not regulate the hunting of small cetacean species such as dolphins and pilot whales, and hunts of this kind continue in certain regions, for instance in Denmark’s Faroe Islands.

HUNTING DOLPHINS

While this article is focused on how whales have been affected by extensive hunting during the whaling era it is important to point out that dolphins have also been hunted by poachers looking to sell their meat or use it for bait.

Because dolphins are much smaller than whales they were much less likely to be hunted and attacked during the whaling era as they provided much less oil from their blubber than the larger whale species, however they were and still are hunted for other reasons.

As stated before dolphins may be hunted so that their meat can be sold to local markets.

In some cases dolphin meat has even been found in sold cans of tuna as a filler for tuna meat or mixed in with other types of fish products.

Dolphins have also been hunted so that their meat could be used as bait by fishermen looking to attract other marine animals they were hunting.

And some species were killed by poachers and fishermen that were looking to lower their competition for hunting fish or because the dolphins were interfering with their fishing equipment.

As with the whale species dolphins are now considered a protected species and hunting them is illegal in numerous countries.

HELP FROM THE ICRW/IWC

In 1946 agreements were made and signed by the ICRW in Washington D.C. to provide better protection among certain whale populations and monitor the behavior of the whaling industry in an attempt to allow certain whale stocks time to recover from extensive whaling practices, and in 1986 the International Whaling Commission (An organization created to prevent the over-hunting of whales and create policies as to how people are allowed to interact with whales) banned the practice of commercial whaling to provide better protection to all marine mammals and give species affected by the whaling industry time to hopefully rebuild their population.

Those who signed into the international agreement complied to follow its policies, however over the years some countries have disbanded from the agreement and have begun hunting again.

Other countries have adopted their own policies for policing the hunting of whales and limit which species of whale can be hunted and how many of that species can be killed yearly.

While not completely stopping commercial whaling these countries try to create a balance between the whaling industry and the re-population of whales.

And some countries hunt whales regardless of existing policies.

Due to the creation of alternative resources whale blubber is no longer needed for oil so most hunting that does occur today is the result of hunting whales for their meat which is sold to restaurants, meat markets and supermarkets where it can be sold for human consumption.

Fortunately most species of whale still remain in existence today due to the banning of commercial whaling in various parts of the world.

Although unauthorized commercial whaling is likely to continue for a long time it appears that this trend is declining as certain countries continue to lose profits due continually declining interests.

LIST OF HUNTED WHALES

This is not a complete list.

• Northern bottlenose whale

• Baird’s beaked whale

• Bowhead whale

• Byrde’s whale

• Fin whale

• Gray whale

• humpback whale

• Minke whale

• Narwhal whale

• Long finned pilot whale

• Pygmy killer whale

• Sperm whale

• Atlantic white sided dolphin

THE GROWTH OF THE WHALE WATCHING INDUSTRY

As the commercial whaling industry came to an end during the 20th century a new industry known as whale watching began to emerge.

Since its inception the whale watching industry has grown to a billion dollar annual business hiring thousands of employees and serving millions of customers each year.

Whale watching is act of watching whales live in their natural habitat similar to bird watching.

Whale watchers pay tour boats to bring them out to sea where they can catch a glimpse of these amazing marine mammals living their lives.

In addition to bringing additional capital to numerous economies whale watching has also helped bring awareness about the current condition of whales and some businesses work with organizations to provide additional help and protection for these marine mammals, especially those that are endangered and in threat of facing extinction.

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