A history of whaling

Humans have been hunting whales for thousands of years. Small communities in the North Atlantic, North Pacific and Artic Ocean were whaling by 3000 BCE. People from Japan are also considered among the first to practise whaling during the Jōmon period, 13000–300 BCE.

Small-scale coastal whaling is recorded in places like Norway from the 10th century, and Japan and Iceland from the 12th century. This continued until the 19th century when these countries became more involved in large-scale commercial whaling.

Whaling gained in popularity in the early 17th century. England, the Netherlands, Denmark and France sent regular expeditions to hunt the bowhead whale in the bays around Spitsbergen. Various settlements were established in the area including Smeerenburg or Blubbertown.

When whalers started hunting sperm whales from the deep ocean, the nature of whaling changed. Expeditions became longer and whales needed to be flensed onboard. However, new discoveries in the 19th century replaced whale oil and bone, and the industry started to decline.

North American whaling declined on the east coast from the early 20th century. Norway, Japan and Iceland became more heavily involved in commercial whaling during this period, hunting blue, fin, pacific right, humpback and grey whales. 

Annual whale catches rose from 2,000 to 20,000 between 1900–1910, reaching a peak of 66,000 in 1961. Floating ship factories replaced many shore stations and enabled whalers to reach previously unreachable waters with some fitted with aircraft for whale spotting.

During the Second World War whale meat was consumed to supplement the British diet. Scientists were sent on the ship ‘Balaena’ to test whale meat from Antarctica. The Ministry of Food promoted whale meat as an unrationed, tasty alternative to beef but it was unpopular.

The International Whaling Commission was established in 1946 with 15 nations; it has a current membership of 88 countries. By 1970, many species of whale were severely depleted, and so commercial whaling was finally banned by the IWC in 1986.

Norway, Japan and Iceland objected to the ban and continued whaling, often citing ‘scientific purposes’. Norway resumed commercial whaling soon after, Iceland in 2006 and Japan in 2019 after leaving the IWC. Whaling paused in Iceland in 2019 but continues in Norway and Japan.

The Faroese kill hundreds of whales every year but, on 12 September 2021, there was outcry from international audiences and local residents when 1,428 Atlantic white-sided dolphins were slaughtered, forcing the government of the Faroe Islands to re-evaluate this practice.