The tragic decimation of the world s great whales by the whalers of many nations which reached its worst excesses in the middle years of this century has at last been curbed. But because of decades of overhunting, some species of whales and dolphins have been driven to critically low levels. Each year over 1,000 whales are still being killed for the commercial market, and the number is steadily increasing.
All whales face a wide range of new and increasing threats.
Today, six out of the eleven great whale species are considered to be endangered or vulnerable even after 30 or more years of protection from whaling. Despite a number of conservation victories for the whales including the moratorium on commercial whaling and the declaration of virtually the whole of the Southern Ocean as a whale sanctuary in 1994 whales are still dying. Since the moratorium came into effect in 1985-1986, over 18,000 whales have been killed mainly by Russia, Japan, and Norway. Japan has killed over 3,600 minke whales for so-called scientific purposes, mainly in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. Norway, which lodged an objection to the moratorium, has killed 146 whales under the guise of science, and hunted for commercial purposes 2,368 whales from a badly depleted population.