To the left, the black-hulled whaling ships. To the right, the red-hulled whale-watching ship. Iceland, 2011.
Whaling is the hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil which became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution.
It was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the
16th century, it had risen to be the principle industry in the coastal
regions of Spain and France. The industry spread throughout the world,
and became increasingly 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 the 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 a worldwide cessation of whaling as an industry in the late 1980's.
The earliest forms of whaling date to at least circa 3000 BC. Coastal communities around the world have long histories of subsistence use of cetaceans, by dolphin drive hunting and by harvesting drift whales. Industrial whaling emerged with organized fleets of whale ships in the 17th century; competitive national whaling industries in the 18th and 19th centuries; and the introduction of factory ships
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. In 1986, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) banned commercial whaling because of the extreme depletion of most of the whale stocks.
Contemporary whaling is subject to intense debate. Countries that support commercial whaling, notably Iceland, Japan, and Norway, wish to lift the ban on certain whale stocks for hunting. Anti-whaling countries and environmental groups oppose lifting the ban. Under the terms of the IWC moratorium, aboriginal whaling is allowed to continue on a subsistence basis. 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 killer whales) continues.
History
Eighteenth-century engraving showing Dutch whalers hunting bowhead whales in the Arctic
Whaling on Danes Island, by Abraham Speeck, 1634. Skokloster Castle.
One of the oldest known whaling paintings, by Bonaventura Peeters, depicting Dutch whalers at Spitzbergen circa 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. These images are the earliest evidence for whaling. Although prehistoric hunting and gathering is generally considered to have had little ecological impact, early whaling in the Arctic may have altered freshwater ecology.
Early whaling affected the development of widely disparate cultures – such as Norway and Japan, both of which continue to hunt in the 21st century. The 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, sometimes known as "train oil", and in the 20th century by a demand for margarine and later whale meat.
Many countries which once had significant industries, such as the Netherlands, Scotland, and Argentina, ceased whaling long ago, and so are not covered in this article.
Modernity
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A modern whaling vessel in Germany
Whales caught 2010-2014, by country
The primary species hunted are minke whales,
belugas, narwhals,
and pilot whales. which are some of the smallest species of whales. There are also smaller numbers killed of gray whales, sei whales, fin whales, bowhead whales, Bryde's whales, sperm whales and humpback whales.
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."
Whale oil is used little today
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. 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:
provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry.
International Whaling Commission
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 great whales, and has not reached consensus on whether it may regulate smaller species.
The IWC voted on July 23, 1982, to establish a 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 of the International Whaling Commission
in Morocco, representatives of the 88 member states discussed whether
or not to lift the 24-year ban on commercial whaling. Japan, Norway and
Iceland have urged the organization to lift the ban. A coalition of
anti-whaling nations has 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.
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 whale sanctuary in 1994.
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.
Whaling catches by location
These totals include great whales: counts from IWC and WDC
and IWC Summary Catch Database version 6.1, July 2016.
The IWC database is supplemented by Faroese catches of pilot whales,
Greenland's and Canada's catches of narwhals (data 1954-2014),
belugas from multiple sources shown in the Beluga whale article, Indonesia's catches of sperm whales,
and bycatch in Korea.
Ongoing debate
Key elements of the debate over whaling include sustainability, ownership, national sovereignty, cetacean intelligence, 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
Dominoes made from whale bones in Germany
Whales Caught, by year, including corrected USSR totals; source has data by species
The World Wide Fund for Nature says that 90% of all northern right whales killed by human activities are from ship collision, calling for restrictions on the movement of shipping in certain areas.
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. By-catch also kills more animals than hunting. Some scientists believe pollution to be a factor.
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 of whale meat and blubber for sale on the open market in Japan in 1993. In addition to the legally permitted minke whale, the analyses showed that the 10–25% tissues sample came from non minke, baleen whales,
neither of which were then allowed under IWC rules. Further research in
1995 and 1996 shows significant drop of non-minke baleen whales sample
to 2.5%. 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.
It was revealed in 1994 that the Soviet Union had been systematically under counting 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. On the basis of this new information, the IWC stated that it would have to rewrite its catch figures for the last forty years.
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.
By country
Australia
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 a number
of other mainland centers. Modern whaling using harpoon guns and iron
hulled catchers was conducted in the twentieth century from shore-based
stations in Western Australia, New South Wales and Queensland, also in Norfolk Island. Over fishing saw the closure of some whaling stations before a government ban on the industry was introduced in 1978.
Canada
Canadians kill about 600 narwhals per year. They kill 100 belugas per year in the Beaufort Sea,
300 in northern Quebec (Nunavik),
and an unknown number in Nunavut.
The 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.
Harvested meat is sold through shops and supermarkets in northern
communities where whale meat is a component of the traditional diet. Hunters in Hudson's Bay rarely eat beluga meat. They give a little to dogs, and leave the rest for wild animals.
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. One estimate of the annual gross value received from Beluga hunts in Hudson Bay in 2013 was CA$600,000 for 190 belugas, or CA$3,000 per beluga, andCA$530,000 for 81 narwhals, or CA$6,500 per narwhal. However the net income, after subtracting costs in time and equipment, was a loss of CA$60 per person for belugas and CA$7
per person for narwhals. Hunts 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, CA$550,000 was for Beluga skin and meat, to replace beef, pork and chickens which would otherwise be bought, CA$50,000 was received for carved vertebrae and teeth. CA$370,000 was for Narwhal skin and meat, CA$150,000 was received for tusks, and carved vertebrae and teeth of males, and CA$10,000 was received for carved vertebrae and teeth of female Narwhals.
Two Senators, members of First Nations, said in 2018,
- In my Aboriginal upbringing, we were always taught that animals are our brothers and sisters. They are living beings, like us. They have their own spirits. They have their own families. They have their own language. When I think of it that way, I see cetaceans as equals. (Dan Christmas)
- In my community, the Anishinaabe recognize that we are all related, not just you and I, but you and I and all life forms of creation. As living things, we are connected to each other. We depend upon one another. (Murray Sinclair)
The Whale and Dolphin Conservation says:
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.
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. This is roughly one-fiftieth of the bowhead whale harvest limits in Alaska (see below).
Denmark
Faroe Islands
Killed pilot whales on the beach in Hvalba, Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands are legally part of the Kingdom of Denmark, but are geographically isolated and cultually distinct. The hunt, known as the Grindadráp, is regulated by Faroese authorities but not by the IWC, which does not claim jurisdiction over small cetaceans.
Around 800 long-finned pilot whales (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.
Most Faroese consider the hunt an important part of their culture
and history and arguments about the topic raise strong emotions.
Animal-rights groups criticize the hunt as being cruel and unnecessary
and economically insignificant. Hunters claim that most journalists lack
knowledge of the catch methods used to capture and kill the whales.
Greenland
Whales caught per year
Greenlandic Inuit whalers catch around 175 large whales per year, mostly Minke whales,
as well as 360 narwhals,
200 belugas,
190 pilot whales and 2,300 porpoises.
IWC sets limits for large whales. The government of Greenland
sets limits for narwhals and belugas. There are no limits on pilot
whales and porpoises.
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 percent of
the catch. The average per year from 2012-2016 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 forty years. It landed three bowheads each year in 2009 and 2010, one each in 2011 and 2015.
The Inuit already caught whales around Greenland since the years
1200–1300. They mastered the art of whaling around the year 1000 in the Bering Strait.
The technique consists 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 surfaces; the Inuit hunters would spear it
again, further exhausting the animal until they were able to kill it.
Vikings on Greenland also ate whale meat, but archaeologists believe they never hunted them on sea.
Germany
Being
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. German whaling boats in the mid to late 1800s 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 / 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 1800s 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.
Prior to the first world war, attempts to re-establish large
scale German whaling were undertaken with ships either going from
Germany to Iceland or from the newly established German colonies to
African waters. This attempts never were commercially successful and
quickly given up. Only in the 1930s Germany could - with mainly
Norwegian personnel - re-establish a large and successful whaling
industry with more than 15 000 caught whales 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.
Iceland
Icelandic whaling vessels
Minke whale meat kebabs, Reykjavik, Iceland
Iceland is one of a handful of countries that still maintain a whaling fleet. One company 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 popular with tourists. Iceland now has its own whale watching sector, which exists in uneasy tension with the whaling industry.
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,
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,
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) and nine fin whales (out of an estimated 30,000 animals in the central and north-eastern North Atlantic). For the 2012 commercial whaling season, starting in April and lasting six months, the quota was set to 216 minke whales, of which 52 were caught.
Indonesia
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."
Lamalerans say they returned the ship because they immediately caught
five sperm whales, too many to butcher and eat without refrigeration. Since these communities only hunt whales for noncommercial purposes, it is categorized as 'aboriginal subsistence hunters' by International Whaling Commission (IWC).
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. They caught five sperm whales in 1973, about 40 per year in the 1960s and mid 1990s, 13 total from 2002-2006, 39 in 2007, an average of 20 per year through 2014, and 3 in 2015.
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.
These days, the Lamalerans use 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 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.
Japan
Japanese narrative screen showing a whale hunt off 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 Packwood-Magnuson Amendment, Japan withdrew its objection in 1987. According to the BBC, America went back on this promise, effectively destroying the deal. Since Japan could not resume commercial whaling, it began whaling on a purported scientific-research basis. Australia, Greenpeace, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and other groups dispute the Japanese claim of research “as a disguise for commercial whaling, which is banned.” The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has attempted to disrupt Japanese whaling in the Antarctic since 2003.
The stated purpose of the research program is to establish the size and dynamics of whale populations.
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. 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.
Japan's scientific whaling program is controversial in anti-whaling
countries. 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:
- 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.
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.
Norway
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 and resumed 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 1286 Minke whales. The catch is made solely from the Northeast Atlantic minke whale population, which is estimated at 102,000.
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 Cetaceans including whales.
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. Despite the ban, it is believed that the whaling industry in the Philippines did not cease to exist but went underground.
Russia
Russia 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 1960s and the 1970s has been
called one of the most senseless environmental crimes of the 20th
century.
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.
The Soviet Union's intensive whaling from 1948 to 1972 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.
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”.
Currently, Russians in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in the Russian Far East are permitted under IWC regulation to take up to 140 gray whales from the North-East Pacific population each year. About 40 beluga whales are caught in the Sea of Okhotsk each year.
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.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
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 whales per year using traditional hunting methods and equipment.
South Korea
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. South Korea's envoy to the summit, Kang Joon-Suk,
said that consumption of whale meat "dates back to historical times"
and that there had been an increase in the minke whale population since
the ban took place in 1986. "Legal whaling has been strictly banned and
subject to strong punishments, though the 26 years have been painful and
frustrating for the people who have been traditionally taking whales
for food." He said that South Korea would undertake whaling in its own
waters. New Zealand's Commissioner Gerard van Bohemen
accused South Korea of putting the whale population at risk. He also
cited Japan as having not contributed to science for several years
despite undertaking scientific whaling. New Zealand's stated position
may be seen by its media as less solid than Australia's on the matter
given that its indigenous people are pushing forward with plans,
unopposed by the government, to recommence whaling there. The people of Ulsan have also traditionally and contemporarily eaten whale meat.
South Korea's representative at the IWC said that "this is not a forum
for moral debate. This is a forum for legal debate. As a responsible
member of the commission we do not accept any such categorical, absolute
proposition that whales should not be killed or caught."
United States
A traditional whaling crew in Alaska
In the United States, beluga whaling is widely carried out, catching about 300 belugas per year,
monitored by the Alaska Beluga Whale Committee. The annual catch ranges between 250-600 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 whales
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. 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. Bowhead
whales weigh approximately 5–10 times as much as minke whales.
The Makah tribe in Washington State also reinstated whaling in 1999, despite protests from animal rights groups. They are currently seeking to resume whaling of the gray whale, a right recognized in the Treaty of Neah Bay, within limits (Article 4 of the Treaty).
