Source library

The claim is only as useful as the path back to it.

This is the beginning of the working library—not a claim that any institution is neutral or complete. Official sources establish what a government, regulator, or commission says and records. Whaling Watch will compare them with scientific literature, community material, and other primary evidence as individual country pages develop.

01International frameworkInternational Whaling Commission: Commission overviewThe IWC’s role, structure, convention, and areas of work.IWC02International frameworkTypes of whalingThe IWC overview of commercial, Aboriginal subsistence, and special-permit whaling.IWC03CommercialCommercial whalingThe IWC account of the moratorium and the current positions of Norway, Iceland, and Japan.IWC04SubsistenceAboriginal subsistence whalingThe IWC framework, participating member countries, objectives, and quota process.IWC05United StatesMakah Tribal Whale HuntNOAA Fisheries’ chronology, legal process, environmental review, waiver, and permitting material.NOAA Fisheries06JapanWhaling AffairsThe Fisheries Agency of Japan’s catch-limit documents, policy statements, and scientific progress reports.Fisheries Agency of Japan07NorwayWhalingThe Norwegian government’s description of national management, hunting practice, and scientific basis.Government of Norway08StrandingsMarine mammal carcass disposalOperational overview of natural decomposition, burial, offshore disposal, industrial processing, safety, permitting, and drift modelling.NOAA Fisheries09Cultural managementPygmy blue whale burial at Red BeachThe documented 2023 recovery, road transport, sampling, tikanga, and burial led with Ngāti Manuhiri.New Zealand DOC10PreservationNantucket sperm whale skeletonThe museum record of a nine-hour tow, flatbed transport, necropsy, preparation, and articulation.New Bedford Whaling Museum11PreservationThe Blue Whale StoryRecovery and research following the 2014 Newfoundland and Labrador blue-whale deaths.Royal Ontario Museum12HistoryFlorence whale explosionA public-history account of Oregon’s deliberate 1970 explosive disposal attempt and its outcome.Oregon Historical Society13TaiwanNCKU Marine Biology and Cetacean Research CenterTaiwan’s environmental-education record identifying the preserved skeleton from the 2004 Tainan rupture.Taiwan Ministry of Environment

Link the claim

Context, not citation theater.

Important facts should lead to the specific source that supports them.

Show the date

Records change.

Country and legal entries should show when the source was published and when we last checked it.

Name uncertainty

Disagreement belongs in view.

When credible sources conflict or the evidence is incomplete, the page should say so plainly.