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compared with the overall devastation by the industry, a number in the Antarctic that by most estimates exceeds a million whales. In 1986, as whale populations plummeted toward collapse after decades of industrial-scale whaling, a moratorium against commercial whaling came into force under the International Whaling Commission. Today around 300 whales are still taken from Antarctic waters under the auspices of research, although the meat from these scientifically gathered whales commands enormous prices in Japanese eateries.
Whale numbers in most cases remain at a fraction of their pre-whaling populations, and while most conventional whaling has ended, these giants struggle against new challenges from pollution, ship strikes, net entanglements, and changing climate. Changes in sea temperature are
expected to leave whales vulnerable, and they may not be able to adapt quickly enough to survive. Declines in krill population – a primary source of food for whales – are expected to continue.
The whalers of Antarctica were certain that the abundance of whales in the Antarctic would never end. The investments were made. The technology evolved. But the end did come. Overproduction drove the price of whale oil to record lows. The whales were nearly driven to extinction. Still, the ghost towns of industrial whaling in the Antarctic have weathered the freezing seasonal changes at the bottom of the world and are there to see for anyone hardy enough to make the journey. They will continue to remind us of the devastating costs of an industry lost in its own search for profit.
— Steve Creech
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