Whaling

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the global whale population was hunted to near extinction. A moratorium on commercial whaling, proposed in 1982 and enforced beginning in 1986 aimed to reverse this, and it has been successful: some whale species are beginning to recover, albeit slowly. Japan, however, has continued killing whales, in the name of “research” — and after agreeing to abide by an international ruling ordering it stop, it is now planning to resume whaling in 2015.