Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil and in its earliest forms dates back to at least 3,000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales. Industrial whaling emerged with organized fleets 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 fir...
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Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil and in its earliest forms dates back to at least 3,000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales. Industrial whaling emerged with organized fleets 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.
As technology increased and demand for the seemingly vast resources remained high, catches far exceeded the carrying capacity of whale stocks. In the late 1930s more than 50,000 whales were killed annually and by the middle of the century signs were up that whale stocks were not being replenished. Eventually in 1986 the International Whaling Commission introduced a moratorium on commercial whaling so that stocks might recover.
While the moratorium has been successful in averting the extinction of whale species due...
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