--- title: Revenge of The Whale Hunters description: Japan says the giant mammals have recovered in the 20 years since whaling was banned. Tell that to the whales canonical: https://time.com/archive/6596726/revenge-of-the-whale-hunters/ author: Michael Lemonick article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2006-06-26T04:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-25T06:27:23.300Z article:section: Science og:title: Revenge of The Whale Hunters og:description: Japan says the giant mammals have recovered in the 20 years since whaling was banned. Tell that to the whales og:url: https://time.com/archive/6596726/revenge-of-the-whale-hunters/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Revenge of The Whale Hunters twitter:description: Japan says the giant mammals have recovered in the 20 years since whaling was banned. Tell that to the whales twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Science](/section/science/) # Revenge of The Whale Hunters > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=58ab0fff-7d60-43d0-8a01-db44afb54c71&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) by [Michael Lemonick](https://time.com/author/michael-d-lemonick/) Jun 26, 2006 4:00 AM UTC by [Michael Lemonick](https://time.com/author/michael-d-lemonick/) Jun 26, 2006 4:00 AM UTC By the time most people realized that whales were not oversize fish but warm-blooded mammals with large brains, sophisticated social structures and an elaborate language of squeals, clicks and low moans, it was nearly too late. The orgy of unrestrained whale hunting, which began in the 1600s and became industrialized in the 19th century, had already sent many species into serious decline. Environmental groups, fearing that the whales would become extinct, lobbied hard to bring the hunting and killing to a halt. In 1986 they came very close: the International Whaling Commission (IWC) voted to prohibit whaling, allowing it only for scientific purposes or, in a handful of cases, such as among native peoples in Alaska and Greenland, to preserve ancient food-gathering practices. But the treaty has proved all too easy to get around. Japan, Iceland and Norway, in particular, have slaughtered tens of thousands of whales in the past 20 years. The first two countries claim they are doing it for science, although much of the meat they take ends up on dinner tables. Norway doesn’t even bother pretending. It openly flouts the IWC’s rules. Now Japan has upped the ante: at the annual meeting of the IWC last week in the Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis, the Japanese pushed through a resolution calling for a repeal of the whaling moratorium, declaring it “no longer necessary.” Fortunately for the whales, the resolution isn’t binding. The vote was 33 to 32 in favor, but it would have taken a 75% majority to overturn the ban. For whaling opponents, however, the vote was an ominous sign of Japan’s power over the IWC–and of its willingness to use strong-arm tactics and not-so-subtle bribery to get its way. Japan has reportedly showered more than $100 million in aid in recent years on island nations that it has persuaded to back its pro-whaling positions. And though Japan’s allies don’t have the votes to overturn the whaling ban, it takes only a simple majority to make other changes–to take future votes on secret ballots, for example, so that nations can’t be held accountable for their positions, or to exclude antiwhaling groups from IWC meetings. Indeed, Japan last week sparred once again with Greenpeace–the organization that agitated hardest for the original ban–until Japan was pressured to back off. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6596726/revenge-of-the-whale-hunters/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6596726/revenge-of-the-whale-hunters/"},"headline":"Revenge of The Whale Hunters","datePublished":"2006-06-26T04:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-25T06:27:23.300Z","description":"Japan says the giant mammals have recovered in the 20 years since whaling was banned. 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