BBC News | In Pictures
Whaling debate - key species
Sperm whale
Made famous in Moby Dick, sperm whales have been hunted since the 17th Century. The largest single-season catch was 29,300 in 1963-64.
Environmental groups say that in the 1940s there were about 2 million of these large-headed whales worldwide, but numbers dropped as commercial whaling grew before the moratorium was imposed. Japan currently catches up to 10 each year.
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Introduction
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