Whaling

1. The act of hunting whales. This is customarily done with harpoon?s. In previous times, the commercial exploitation of whales was big business, supporting large fleets engaged in their pursuit. With the depletion of the stocks in recent times and general public disapprobation of the hunting of what are considered to be intelligent mammals, coupled with international legislation, whaling is now only conducted by a few countries, and on a relatively small scale.

The subject of whaling is central to the novel Moby Dick by the American novelist Herman Melville.

2. A short name for the UN treaty International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling