The factory ship era , enabling processing of the whales at sea. In 1946 the International Whaling Commission was established to protect the industry. Political pressure is the biggest enforcing power. Populations are said to be depleted if the number is below this level. They breed near the equator during winter.
Gray whales stir up bottom sediments and feed on benthic crustaceans.
This is important for feeding and breeding. The gray whale has the longest migration of any animal. Bowhead and beluga whales remain in the arctic, and they migrate between the Chukchi and Bering Seas. Subsistence hunting ii. Collisions with ships iv.