Whaling today

The largest whaling nations today are Norway, Japan and Iceland, with Norway and Iceland engaged in commercial whaling, while Japan is conducting so-called scientific whaling. The whaling activities are controversial and anti whaling organisations headed by Sea Shepherd are staging campaigns, especially targeting Japanese whaling in the southern oceans. Both Japan and Iceland catch species that are listed as endangered on the IUCN red list, such as the Finn Whale. However, whaling is not the only threat to whales today. Ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear cause death and suffering to a large number of whales.