китобойный промысел

Also known as whale hunting

thumb|To the left, the black-hulled whaling ships. To the right, the red-hulled whale-watching ship. Iceland, 2011. thumb|Number of whales killed since 1900 Whaling is the hunting of whales for their products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that was important in the Industrial Revolution. Whaling was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16th century, it had become the principal industry in the Basque coastal regions of Spain and France. The whaling industry spread throughout the world and became very profitable in terms of trade and res