In the last century, several whale species were hunted to the point where they became endangered - largely to obtain oil. Today, only a few species are endangered. Two species - the sperm whale and the minke whale - are ultra-abundant, with world populations of at least one million animals. Today's whalers hunt for food, not oil, and they take only small numbers of abundant species on a sustainable basis. So the whale has been saved and there is no prospect of large-scale whaling activities returning and pushing species towards extinction.

The one conservation element that is missing is the creation of an international management system for hunting whales. However, animal rights and animal welfare groups have persuaded the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and many western countries to delay the introduction of such a system.
The agenda of these groups is to prevent the killing of any whales, however abundant they are. But this is short-sighted because it makes more likely the demise of the IWC (which was created "to provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry") and a return to zero regulation more likely. In the meantime, some small traditional whaling communities - that cannot possibly have any impact on world whale stocks - suffer because they are prevented by the IWC from hunting in their coastal waters.