Even so, we may soon see a return to the whalers club if commercial whaling is allowed to resume.
Whales are once again in peril.
Old-style whaling, conducted from the twelfth century through 1868, was a means of subsistence for various cultures. The hunts were conducted using small boats and hand-thrown weapons. By 1926, however, whaling was done by huge fleets of boats carrying explosive harpoons, and whales were killed by the tens of thousands. This modern whaling led to the widespread annihilation of vast stocks of great whales throughout the world s oceans. Whaling businesses were so successful that by the 1950s and 1960s, many were driven to bankruptcy because there were so few whales left.