Whaling is the searching of whales for business functions, primarily to acquire oil and meat. Whales have been hunted for hundreds of years, however the apply declined considerably within the twentieth century attributable to worldwide agreements and the event of different sources of oil and meat. Nevertheless, whaling continues to be practiced by some international locations, similar to Japan, Norway, and Iceland, primarily for scientific analysis functions.
Whaling has an extended and controversial historical past. Within the 18th and nineteenth centuries, whaling was a significant business, and whales have been hunted to close extinction in some areas. Within the twentieth century, whaling was regulated by worldwide agreements, however the apply continued to be controversial. Within the Nineteen Eighties, the Worldwide Whaling Fee (IWC) imposed a moratorium on business whaling, however some international locations continued to hunt whales for scientific analysis functions.