Whaling: The hunters and the hunted

A humpback whale breaches off the coast at Clovelly Beach in Sydney, Australia. Photo: Reuters

Thirty years into a moratorium on commercial whaling, hundreds of the marine mammals, some endangered, are killed every year – some in open defiance of the ban, others in the name of scientific research.

The moratorium, monitored by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) which closed its 66th meeting in Slovenia on Oct 28, is credited with having saved tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of whales.