Who caused the decrease in whales?

Graph 1 shows the changes in the number of whales caught in the Antarctic Ocean and the composition of the species of whales caught in the 20th century. In 1864, the modern whaling gun was established in Norway, and whaling in the Antarctic Ocean area was started by Norway in 1904. It was around 1900 when Japan introduced Norwegian system whaling, and it was in 1934 when Japan started whaling in the Antarctic Ocean. Western countries operated whaling mainly for producing whale oil. Whale oil was classified roughly into sperm oil and fin oil, and the former was processed into the raw material of candles, detergent, and lipsticks, and the latter into margarine. Whale oil margarine had been produced in large scale since around 1911 in Holland, Germany, U.K., and Denmark. At that time, "BWU (Blue Whale Unit)" was adopted for computing the amount of catch. 2 fin whales, 2.5 humpback whales, or 6 sei whales were converted into 1 blue whale. Under this "Olympic System", whaling nations tried to catch king-sized whales which were more efficient for making whale oil first.

Graph 1 shows the transition as follows: as the blue whales, the largest species of baleen whales, were running out the fin whales became the target of whaling, then, smaller sei whales became the main target, and finally only minke whales were left behind.

Graph 2 shows the changes in the share by nation which operated whaling in the Antarctic Ocean after the World War II. Whaling in the Antarctic Ocean by Japan which was a defeated nation of the World War II was reopened by General MacArthur of GHQ overcoming the opposition of the allies (New Zealand, Australia, U.K., and Norway), on condition that "whale meat shall be supplied for easing food shortage, and whale oil shall be delivered into the world market. Japan had the advantage of making a profit over other nations, since not only whale oil but also whale meat had commercial value in Japan, and the Japanese whaling industry gradually increased the number of fleets, expanded the equipment, and became the biggest whaling nation in the world by 1960. In the meantime, however, the resources of whales were running out, and Holland, U.K., and Norway which had produced only whale oil withdrew from whaling one by one. Japan gradually decreased the number of fleets, and the whaling fleets of three whaling companies for whaling in the Antarctic Ocean consolidated into one company and one fleet in 1975, and Kyodo Hogei was established in the spring of 1976. The company changed its name to Kyodo Senpaku as soon as the moratorium of commercial whaling came into effect in 1987, and the company began to rent vessels and personnel for Japanese scientific whaling.

By the way, Greenpeace started its anti-whaling activity in 1975 when whaling was already on the decline due to lack of whales. They confronted Russian whalers first, then whalers in Iceland, Spain. Peru and Australia before addressing Japan's whaling. As whaling continued to decline. The raw materials for industrial products which used to be made from whale oil were replaced by sunflower oil, cotton seed oil, palm oil, and petroleum oil. As a result of continuous catching of wild mammals using industrial methods to meet the demand of industrialized nations, the number of most large-sized whales in the world decreased extremely and remains scarce - this is because whales, unlike some fish, cannot recover quickly from over exploitation.

Major whaling nations

Germany quits whaling in 1939
U.S. quits whaling in 1940
Argentin quits whaling in 1960
U.K. quits whaling in 1963
Holland quits whaling in 1964
New Zealandquits whaling in 1964
Norway withdraws from the Antarctic Ocean in 1972
Canada quits whaling in 1973
South Africa quits whaling in 1975
Australia quits whaling in 1978
Brazil quits whaling in 1980
Chile quits whaling in 1983
Peru quits whaling in 1984
Spain quits whaling in 1985
U.S.S.R quits whaling in 1987
Norway reopens whaling in its surrounding ocean area in 1993
Japan tests whaling operation in the Antarctic Ocean in 1934
Demmark/Panama/Republic of Korea/Portugal/Iceland/
France/Mexico/Somail/Philippines/Bahamas/
Tonga/St.Vinsent

Graph 2 The changes in the share by nation

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