Whaling

An unsustainable harvest

Whales have been hunted since humans first learned to build boats, but because most whales are found in the open ocean and are fast swimmers, it was not until the development of equally fast boats that could travel long distances that whaling as an industry developed.

New colonies, such as Australia, became bases for whaling operations: first came inshore operations, and later, distant-water whaling fleets.

Now that the worldwide whale-watching industry is worth over two billion dollars a year, and growing fast, living whales are worth far more than dead ones.