On the right, are assorted harpoon tips used by the Inuighuit tribe. On the left is a exploded harpoon. Harpoons, rifle bullets, electric lances and explosive devices are used to kill whales.

On the left shows Faroe Islanders holding harpoons on a small boat, and on the left is a Russian whaler in the Bellingshausen Sea. Technological advancements such as -spotter in aeroplanes, sonars in ships, catcher boats and "factory" ships have allowed whalers to trace, kill and process whales more efficiently.

 Both on the left and right show whalers cutting up the whales, to process its meat and blubber. Whale oil used to have a ready market as a high-quality lubricant, fuel for lamps, and dressing for leather and textiles. Whale oil is also known to be used in the manufacturing of cosmetics and even margarine. Baleen was also a valuable commodity which was used to make a wide variety of products, ranging from corset stays and umbrella ribs to comes and brushes. However, all these have been replaced by substitutes and due to the increasing concern for whales in the general public, the whale products market has greatly declined.

  The left shows a slaughtered whale in the Antartica. The bottom shows a shot and harpooned gray whale killed by the Chukchi people of Siberia, (one of the tribes in the world that is allowed by IWC to hunt whales for tribal subsistence and cultural purposes.) by numerous bullets and harpoons.

 A minke whale is hauled aboard a Japanese factory ship in the Southern Ocean. After the global moratorium on commercial whaling has been instituted, majority of the countries have stopped and desist commercial whaling. However, Japan and Norway disagreed to the moratorium and continued to kill whales and market whales meat under the guise of "scientific research". The Makah tribe living in USA with a 1500-year tradition of whaling has expressed its desire to whale commercially recently and environmentalists fear that once Makahs secure their cultural and subsistence rights to kill whales, they might contract with a commercial whaling vessel to actually kill and process whales assigned to them.

 Many environmental groups such as Greenpeace, have stepped out to stop countries from commercial whaling activity. This over-exploitation might one day lead to a terminal decline of whale species and populations and eventually extinction of these mammals.