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Whaling has been dated as far back as 6,000 BC, In the 1600's organized whaling fleets had been created.In the 1700's and 1800's competitive national whaling industries bloomed. In the 1900's factory ships and whale 'harvesting' showed their faces in the world.

Whale oil is no longer commonly used, though whales are still hunted. The most commonly hunted whales are the Common and Antarctic Minke whales. Two of the smallest species of baleen whales. (Plankton eaters)
International cooperation on whaling regulation began in 1931, and the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) in 1946, whose aim is to "provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the commercial whaling and the orderly development of the whaling industry."
The IWC was set up under the terms of the ICRW for the purpose of making decisions on quota levels and other relevant matters based on the findings of its Scientific Committee.

arrow Canada: Canadian whaling is carried out by various Inuit groups around the country in small numbers and is managed by the Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

arrow Caribbean: In Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on the island of Bequia the International Whaling Commission allows natives of the island to catch up to four Humpback Whales per year using traditional hunting methods and equipment.

arrow Faroe Islands: Around 950 Long-finned Pilot Whales are caught annually. Occasionally, other species are hunted as well, such as the Northern Bottlenose Whale and Atlantic White-sided Dolphin.
Faroese whaling is regulated by Faroese authorities but not by the IWC.

arrow Greenland: Greenland Inuit whalers catch around 175 whales per year, making them the third largest hunt in the world after Norway and Japan. (though their take is only about one quarter of either Japan's or Norway's)
The IWC treats the west and east coast of Greenland as two separate population areas. The west kills around 150 minke and 10 Fin Whales, The east coast kills around 10 minkes.

arrow Iceland: Iceland did not object the 1982 IWC moratorium, that came to force in 1986.
Between 1986 and 1989 around 60 whales were killed under a scientific permit. But due to anti-whaling groups- Iceland ceased whaling altogether in 1989. In1991 IWC refused to accept scientific whale killing, Iceland left the IWC in 1992.
In 2003 Iceland resumed scientific whaling which continued in 2004 and 2005.
Iceland resumed commercial whaling in 2006. The annual quota is set to 30 minke whales and nine Fin Whales

arrow Japan:
In 2005, Japan decided to double their quota kill from the previous year to 935 minke whales and ten endangered fin whales.
In 2007 they planned to kill 50 fin whales and 50 endangered humpback whales.

The whalers say that lethal research is needed to accurately measure the whale population, health, and response to global warming, That it is essential for the sustainable management of the world's cetacean stocks. However Australia and New Zealand have started a non-lethal whale research program to show that the Japanese lethal research program is no longer necessary.

Sea Shepherd and other environmental groups dispute the Japanese claim of research "as a disguise for commercial whaling, which is banned."

arrow Netherlands: From 1946 to 1964, the involvement of the Netherlands in modern whaling in the Antarctic was intense. However, the current Dutch government opposes the practice of whaling.

arrow Norway: Norway has registered an objection to the International Whaling Commission moratorium, and is thus not bound by it.
In 1993, Norway resumed a commercial catch, following a period of five years where a small catch was made under a scientific permit. They only caught Atlantic Minke Whales. Minke Whale catches have fluctuated between 487 animals in 2000 to 592 in 2007.
Prior to the moratorium, Norway caught around 2,000 Minkes per year.
In May 2004, the Norwegian Parliament passed a resolution to considerably increase the number of Minkes hunted each year.

Since 2006, when the Norwegian whaling quota was increased by 30%, Norwegian whalers have been allowed to hunt a quota of 1,052 Minke Whales a year. However since 1993 quota has rarely been fully met. (In 2007, 592 whales were caught, In 2008, 532 were caught)

arrow Russia: The Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in the Russian Far East are permitted under IWC regulation to take up to 140 Gray Whales from the North-East Pacific population each year.

arrow United States: Whaling is carried out by the Alaska natives from nine different communities. The whaling program is managed by the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, They report to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The hunt takes around 50 Bowhead Whales a year from a population of about 10,500 in Alaskan waters. The hunt also took an average of one or two Gray Whales each year until 1996. The quota was reduced to zero in that year due to concerns about sustainability.
*Bowhead whales weigh approximately 5-10 times as much as Minke Whales.*
Season Catch
2003 48
2004 43
2005 6
2006 39
2007 63
All catch in 2003-2007 was Bowhead whale.

The Makah tribe in Washington State also reinstated whaling in 1999, despite intense protests. They are currently seeking to resume whaling of the Gray Whale, a right recognized in to the Treaty of Neah Bay.

arrow Ship collision, bycatch and illegal trade:
The World Wide Fund for Nature says that 90% of all whales being killed are from ship collision, calling for restrictions on the movement of shipping in certain areas.
The next largest number is by-catch, followed by hunting. Some scientists believe pollution to be a factor.

It was revealed in 1994 that the Soviet Union had been systematically under reporting the number of whales it took.
For example, from 1948 to 1973, the Soviet Union caught 48,477 Humpback Whales rather than the 2,710 it officially reported to the IWC
On the basis of this new information, the IWC stated that it would have to rewrite its catch figures for the last forty years.