Countries & communities
One word cannot describe every place, people, or legal framework.
This index separates commercial whaling from Aboriginal subsistence whaling, identifies the sovereign state and community where relevant, and sends every entry to a primary source. It is a starting map—not a claim that the practices are equivalent.
01 · Commercial
Commercial whaling frameworks
The IWC’s commercial overview identifies Iceland and Norway as countries that have continued commercial catches under a reservation or objection. Japan left the IWC in 2019 and resumed commercial whaling under national regulation.
Iceland
Iceland is an IWC member with a reservation to the commercial-whaling moratorium. Authorizations and actual activity can change from year to year, so current claims must be dated.
IWC commercial-whaling overviewNorway
Norway lodged a formal objection to the moratorium and sets national quotas for minke whales. Its government publishes the national management position and regulatory context.
Government of NorwayJapan
Japan withdrew from the IWC in 2019 and resumed commercial whaling under national management. Japan states that operations are limited to its territorial sea and exclusive economic zone.
Japan Fisheries Agency02 · Subsistence
Aboriginal subsistence whaling
The IWC recognizes these hunts as distinct from commercial whaling and describes them in terms of cultural, nutritional, and subsistence need. Catch limits are agreed for named communities and stocks.
Greenland
Greenlandic communitiesThe IWC sets Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling catch limits for Greenland through Denmark, with distinct provisions by species and management area.
IWC Aboriginal Subsistence WhalingAlaska
Alaska Native communitiesIWC catch limits cover bowhead and gray whales taken by eligible Alaska Native communities under a co-management system.
IWC Aboriginal Subsistence WhalingChukotka
Chukotkan Indigenous communitiesThe IWC framework includes gray- and bowhead-whale catch limits for Indigenous communities in Chukotka for nutritional, subsistence, and cultural needs.
IWC Aboriginal Subsistence WhalingBequia
Bequian communityThe IWC framework includes a limited humpback-whale catch allocation for Bequia, with conditions stated in the binding Schedule.
IWC Aboriginal Subsistence Whalingsovereign states represented
Whaling remains a worldwide practice.
Across the IWC’s current commercial and Aboriginal subsistence frameworks, at least seven sovereign states are represented: Iceland, Norway, Japan, Denmark, Russia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and the United States. They span the North Atlantic, North Pacific, Arctic, and Caribbean.
Scope matters: this is not a count of countries killing whales in every calendar year. It counts sovereign states represented in these documented frameworks; activity, authorizations, communities, species, and frequency differ sharply by place.
Read the IWC framework ↗