by Perry McCarney

Created on: July 13, 2009   Last Updated: April 09, 2012

Whaling is a human activity that has been occurring for thousands of years. Many coastal, indigenous populations the world over have supplemented their food resources through whaling. The species of whale hunted have varied dependent on time and geographic location. In most of these historic whaling periods, the numbers taken have not threatened the existence of any whale species. 

Most commonly indigenous whaling has been opportunistic hunting or scavenging, targeting any whale that came close enough to shore or beached itself; the beaching of individual whales or pods (groups) has been happening since recorded history began and presumably well before. Such hunting has been predominantly sustainable, with the notable exception of the Basque peoples of northern Spain and southern France.

The Basque started whaling 800 to 1000 years ago in the Bay of Biscay, on what is now the south-western shore of France. They hunted the right whale, so called because it was a slow swimmer, gentle and floated when dead; such characteristics making it the "right" whale to hunt. Many whale species, particularly the deep divers, will sink when they are dead. The Basque started with quite small boats, so they needed to be able to tow their kill back to shore for butchering. Having wiped out the right whale population of the Bay of Biscay by the 16th century, they proceeded to sail further and further into the Atlantic ocean in search of prey, traveling as far as Iceland and Newfoundland.

As European technology advanced and the desire for whale products grew, particularly the oil and bone, whaling became a commercial enterprise with more and more European nations taking it up in the 17th and 18th centuries. The mid-19th century saw significant advances in whaling technology, bringing about the modern whaling era. Steamships gave the whalers the speed to hunt the faster swimming species of whale. With Norwegian Svend Foyn's invention of the harpoon gun, explosive harpoon and a method of pumping air into the dead whales to keep them afloat in 1868, the growth in whaling steadily moved it beyond sustainable levels. With larger ships and better equipment, all the larger species of whale became targets. Smaller species were generally ignored because the larger whales provided a better commercial return against costs.

The Japanese started coastal whaling as long ago as 8000 BC, scavenging beached whales and whaling close to shore using hand held harpoons from small boats. Preferred

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