Greenpeace guide to the Great whales

In total, 1.5 million whales were killed by commercial whalers in the fifty years from 1925 to 1975, the year that Greenpeace began its long running campaign to stop commercial whaling. Many of the world's whale populations had been taken to the brink of extinction and this massive destruction was only stopped when the International Whaling Commission (IWC) imposed a moratorium on all commercial whaling in 1986. Of the nine countries still whaling when the moratorium decision was taken, seven had ceased by 1990, but two countries, Japan and Norway, did not.

By exploiting loopholes in the IWC convention, both countries are still killing whales and have put considerable resources into pushing for a resumption of commercial whaling. The factors that led to massive over-exploitation in the past remain and Greenpeace continues to actively campaign for an end to all commercial whaling under whatever guise it is perpetrated.