Hunting Whales

Baleen whales were extensively hunted over many centuries for meat, oil and "whalebone", another name for the baleen plates. Almost all coastal peoples have hunted whales at one point or other in history. In North America, places like New Bedford, MA, and San Ignacio Lagoon in Mexico were centers of whaling. Other areas around the world include the Barents Sea (north of Norway) and all of the ocean surrounding Antarctica Problems arose when the hunting became commercial rather than for subsistence. Whole flotillas of whaling vessels would sail the high seas for months and even years at a time -- catching, killing and processing huge numbers of animals on board. It is believed that all species of baleen whales were reduced to less than 10% of their natural population. Several species, particularly the right and blue whales, were driven almost to extinction. Blue whale population is now estimated at 5,000 to 6,000 animals worldwide. North Atlantic Right whales were hunted more than any other single species of whale. They received the name ³right² whale because they were the right whale to hunt. They were found close to shore, had enormous quantities of oil and meat, and floated after being killed. In the 15th century, whalers from Europe, who had already eliminated most right whales on the east side of the Atlantic, began sailing to the coast of America. Even after decades of protection, fewer than 300 North Atlantic right whales remain. Today, whaling has been reduced almost to nothing. There are only four nations who openly continue to hunt whales commercially. Norway, Iceland, Greenland, and Japan engage in a yearly hunt of minke whales for domestic consumption. Several aboriginal populations around the world still hunt small numbers of whales as a tribal right. Toothed whales did not suffer as much as their larger cousins from whaling. Sperm whales were hunted for the high quality oil found in their huge heads and an odd substance from their intestine known as ambergris. Ambergris is a yellow golden waxy substance that was used in perfumes. Today, hunting of toothed whales is a very localized occurrence. Certain communities, notably in Southeast Asia and South America, hunt locally-abundant dolphins. Residents of the Faroe Islands, between Iceland and Britain, hold an annual hunt of pilot whales. They capture 500-700 whales each year and all Faroe Islanders over 14 years old are guaranteed a share of meat from the hunt. Japan maintains a harvest of Dall's porpoise, a small black and white cetacean, in the north Pacific.