Short answers, pulled from the story.
The earliest evidence of whaling dates back to 6000 BC, etched into the Neolithic Bangudae Petroglyphs in Korea. This finding reveals that humans have been hunting these massive marine mammals for over eight thousand years.
Only Iceland, Japan, and Norway still engage in and support commercial hunting despite the International Whaling Commission moratorium. Japan withdrew its objection in 1987 but resumed commercial hunting in its territorial waters in July 2019, while Norway registered an objection and resumed commercial whaling in 1993.
The Soviet Union caught 48,477 humpback whales during its intensive illegal whaling program from 1948 to 1973. This figure stands in stark contrast to the 2,710 humpback whales the Soviet Union officially reported catching during that period.
On the 23rd of July 1982, the International Whaling Commission voted to establish a moratorium on commercial whaling of great whales. This decision took effect beginning in the 1985, 86 season and has led to a significant reduction in whale deaths.
Scientists have determined that large marine mammals hold over 9 million less tons of carbon in the ocean than during the pre-whaling era. This depletion highlights the environmental cost of industrial whaling and the critical role whales play in the carbon cycle.