From whaling to whale-loving

For centuries, we humans looked at whales as a source of oil and meat. Many people saw whales as monsters of the sea and a source of oil for lamps and other products, such as whalebone corsets. But when did this perception change? When did we start loving whales and seeing them as intelligent creatures we want to see in the wild? How did the recording of a humpback whale song help save the whales?           Let’s start with the history of whaling and the reason for starting whaling.

Historic whaling.

There are different forms of whaling: aboriginal subsistence whaling, commercial whaling and scientific whaling.

Aboriginal subsistence whaling: This is a type of whaling where whaling originates, its sole purpose is for nutritional and cultural values. Historically, it’s believed that whaling for this purpose started over 4000 years ago in Norway. There is also archaeological evidence for many other countries all across the world. For example, in Japan, where the remains of whales were found in ancient burial mounds, dating back to before 300 BCE. But in all of these ancient cases, it was most likely solely for their nutritional value; nearly all parts of the whale would have been used. An important source of protein, fats, vitamins, and minerals can be found in meat, skin, blubber, and organs. The baleen, also known back then as whalebone, could be used for various other items such as the weaving of baskets, fishing lines, combs and many household items. In 1850, a whalebone figurine was discovered in Skara Brae on the Orkney Islands, Scotland; it’s thought to date back to 2400 BCE.        To this day, aboriginal subsistence whaling is still practised by countries and communities across the planet, like in Greenland, the USA (Native people of Alaska), Russia (Native people ofChukotka), and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. All of these places have strict regulations on the number of whales they are allowed to catch per block of years. Whaling also occurs in the Faroe Islands, but there are no international regulations, as they see it as their tradition and follow their own national regulations. But the topic of the Faroe Islands is a controversial one and too big to dive into in this blog.

The shipwreck of the whaling vessel Petrel on South-Georgia

Commercial whaling started in the 11th century in the Bay of Biscay with the Basque people. Initially, they hunted only in the Bay of Biscay; however, as their boats became better and more ocean-going, they travelled farther and farther from their home. By the 17^th century, they managed to whale even in the waters around southern Iceland. It was in the 17th century that whaling gained popularity in other countries of Northern Europe. Initially, they relied on the Basque whalers to share their experiences and knowledge. The main species hunted in this age were the North Atlantic right whale, grey whale and the bowhead whale. This was mainly because these species prefer the shallow and coastal waters of the North Atlantic and the Arctic (Bowhead). North American whaling started around the 1650’s, and by the 1830’s, they were the main whaling nation in the world.  They, too, first stayed in coastal waters, as the right slow swimming whales could be found there. This is also where the Right whale got its name, as it was the right whale to hunt. But soon, all whalers from different nations went farther and farther away, and the ships grew larger, capable of even hunting the deep-diving sperm whales. Who, with their spermaceti organ, were way more profitable. In these times, they mostly hunted whales for whale oil to make candles and for whalebone to make fashion items, such as corsets.

Modern commercial whaling:

With the introduction of gas and electricity, the need for whaling plummeted. By the early 20^th century, whaling declined greatly in North America; however, in Norway, Japan, and Iceland, whaling grew, making them the main commercial whaling countries. And to this day, they still are. New technology meant that more whales could be caught in a shorter amount of time. The ships became faster and larger, and the weapons more deadly. The number of whales caught rose so exponentially that it is believed that more whales were caught in the early 20th century than in all the other centuries combined! This also happened as there were now factory ships that could process the whales more quickly. And as the ships became faster, other species of whale, like the fast-swimming fin and blue whales, could be caught.

Sperm whale

International Whaling Commission

The decline happened so fast that the whalers noticed that there were fewer and fewer whales. This led to the birth of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in December 1946. The aim of the IWC was to regulate whaling and conserve the whale stocks. These regulations included no catch zones, a catch limit for species and a limit on catch in certain areas. For example, some of their first restrictions included bans on killing grey, humpback, and right whales, as well as a seasonal limit on whaling in Antarctica. Despite these restrictions, by 1982, whales had declined so badly that a commercial whaling pause was implemented for all whale species and populations, starting with the 1985/1986 whaling season. This pause, also known as the moratorium, is still in place to date. There are only three countries that disregard this moratorium: Japan, Norway and Iceland. Since the implementation of the moratorium, over 40,000 large whales have been killed by these three countries. And over 100,000 dolphins and small whales were killed by various countries, including the Faroe Islands.            Through the IWC, a new type of whaling was introduced: special permit whaling, also known as scientific whaling. The aim of this type of whaling is to kill whales in order to research them. It is stated in one of the articles (Article VIII) of the IWC’s founding treaty that any country is allowed to issue special permits for scientific purposes.  When the whaling moratorium came into effect in 1986, some countries, including Norway and Japan, objected to the moratorium. From 1988, Japan started scientific whaling, and since then, they killed an average of 1800 whales per year. Japan mostly focused its whaling in Antarctica. They even continued doing so after the IWC designated the Southern Ocean around Antarctica as a whale sanctuary. In 2018, Japan fully withdrew from the IWC and continues to hunt whales commercially.

Whaling in numbers:

Remains of a whaling station on South Georgia

It is unclear how many whales exactly were killed throughout the history of whaling. It is estimated, however, that around 3.3 million whales were killed in the 20th century. What we do know is that in some regions, whales were actually hunted to (near) extinction. For example, in the North Atlantic Ocean, the grey whale used to be found here; it is estimated that by the Middle Ages, the grey whale was hunted to extinction in this region. Even to date, not a single grey whale has been seen in the Atlantic basin. Luckily, some populations still exist in the Pacific Ocean. The North Atlantic right whale is still struggling, and now can only be found in the western part of the North Atlantic. In the eastern North Atlantic (Europe), the North Atlantic right whale had disappeared from European waters by the late 19th century. Even now, in the American waters, there remain only around 370 individuals.

Between 1904 and 1965, over 1.3 million whales were killed in Antarctic waters. The main region where whaling took place was around South Georgia, where the main species hunted were the blue, fin, minke, and humpback whales. In the 1960s, the whaling in Antarctic waters collapsed due to the fact that almost all the whales had disappeared!

The recording that saved the whales.     

       Now all these numbers are very depressing, and something needed to be done. There were some people who wanted the whaling to end, but how to get this to happen? Most people didn’t care about these animals, which they would never see. So, how to change the way people perceive whales?

Humpback Whale

It’s the height of the Cold War in the 1950s. U.S. Navy engineer Frank Watlington is working on Bermuda, listening for Soviet Submarines in the Atlantic Ocean through a then-top-secret project, SOSUS (Sound Surveillance System). SOSUS is a project with an array of hydrophones in the ocean to detect the sounds of submarines. However, between the sonar sounds of submarines, Frank Watlington heard something else, something mysterious and something that was definitely not man-made. By 1955, he realised that these sounds coincided with the humpback whales he was seeing off the coast of Bermuda. These recordings, initially, remained classified until the 1960s. Frank Watlington kept these recordings as he knew they were important. And once the recordings were declassified, Frank Watlinkton shared these recordings with many marine scientists, including Dr Roger and Katharine Payne.    Roger Payne analysed the recordings and found they were indeed from humpback whales. And these whales were singing! These recordings sparked Dr Payne's passion for whales.  The three sensed that these recordings could have great power, and they wanted people to appreciate how amazing and complex the whales are. They decided to release the recordings of Frank Watlington’s 9-minute recording and added a recording taken by Roger Payne. The album, Songs of the Humpback Whale, was released in 1970 and sold 100,000 copies. People loved the whale songs – they’re actually very relaxing and melodic, and the record was a hit! In 1979, National Geographic acquired the rights to the album, produced an EP, and distributed 10,5 million copies to its subscribers.  Making it the largest single pressing of any music record in history.

Save the Whale Movement   

Humpback whale

The release of this album and, later, the distribution of the EP through National Geographic led people to see whales in a different way. Whales were no longer just big animals that lived in the sea, but intelligent creatures that, like us, could communicate with each other. Not only did people enjoy listening to the whales, but the record also inspired many to start caring about the whales. People began to realise that if we kept hunting them, we’d lose these amazing creatures. Multiple projects began around the same time as the album release. The Save the Whale movement began in the 1970s and, with the release of songs from the humpback whale, gained more followers. People also went out in the streets to protest against whaling,  not just to save them, but also raise more awareness about the cruel way of hunting with exploding harpoons. The whales became among the first animals to be the face of the conservation movement on the planet. Greenpeace also began in the 70s to protect whales through 'Project Ahab', where they would physically go out on boats and get between the whales and the whalers, all to protect the whales! The Save the Whale movement and Greenpeace's actions helped put pressure on the IWC to create the whaling moratorium. The global outcry was too loud to ignore! It is still one of the most successful conservation initiatives.

The more people cared about the whales, the more they wanted to know about these gentle giants. We learned about their complex social structures, their communication, and their songs. We saw them morn, we saw them being playful, we saw their beauty, we learned about their lives and were left in awe. They are mysterious, and wonderful, and I have personally yet to meet someone who doesn’t smile upon seeing whales in the wild and free!

A story of hope    

        The story of the whales is also a story of hope. True, not all species have recovered. In some areas, whales have disappeared, and in some, they will likely never return. However, the majority of the whales are actually recovering! Especially species like the humpback whale are recovering very quickly. It is estimated that the humpback whale has nearly completely recovered since whaling began. Blue and fin whales are slower to recover; however, there is evidence that they are recovering. For example, around South

Blue whale

Georgia, the main region of the 20^th century whaling. Since the end of whaling around South Georgia, blue whales were hardly ever seen. Actually, between 1998 and 2018, only 1 blue whale was encountered during official whale surveys. However, in a 2020 survey, 58 blue whales were counted. And many more were recorded on hydrophones.          

But this is not the end of this story; most whales may be recovering from whaling, but there are new threats that endanger them. Dangers include ship strikes, overfishing, pollution and climate change. Only the future can tell what lies ahead for these amazing animals.

Sources

Brandslet, S. (2023, October 26). Early whaling eradicated species from local waters. Norwegian SciTech News. https://norwegianscitechnews.com/2023/10/early-whaling-eradicated-species-from-local-waters/

Calderan, S., Black, A., Branch, T., Collins, M., Kelly, N., Leaper, R., Lurcock, S., Miller, B., Moore, M., Olson, P., Širović, A., Wood, A., & Jackson, J. (2020). South Georgia blue whales five decades after the end of whaling. Endangered Species Research, 43, 359–373. https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01077

Clapham, P. J., & Baker, C. S. (2017). Whaling, modern. In Elsevier eBooks (pp. 1070–1074). https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-804327-1.00272-7

Payne, R. S., & McVay, S. (1971). Songs of Humpback whales. Science, 173(3997), 585–597. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.173.3997.585

Payne, R. (2026, January 13). These unearthly whale songs helped save humpbacks from extinction. Animals. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/humpback-songs-archival-save-the-whales-ceti-roger-payne

Big Fish: A Brief History of whaling. (n.d.). https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/big-fish-history-whaling/

History of Whaling. (n.d.). Science and Media Museum. https://www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/history-whaling

Whale and Dolphin Conservation. (2026, February 17). Information and facts about whaling - Whale and Dolphin Conservation. https://uk.whales.org/our-goals/stop-whaling/

Kasuya, T. (2009). Japanese whaling. In Elsevier eBooks (pp. 643–649). https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-373553-9.00148-6

Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling. (n.d.). International Whaling Commission: IWC. https://iwc.int/management-and-conservation/whaling/aboriginal Special Permit Whaling. (n.d.). International Whaling Commission: IWC. https://iwc.int/management-and-conservation/whaling/permits

Commercial Whaling. (n.d.). International Whaling Commission: IWC. https://iwc.int/management-and-conservation/whaling/commercial