For there is no folly of the beast of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men.
Herman Melville, Moby Dick
Looking at the five-year period right after the moratorium 1986-1990 and the five most recent recorded years 2012-2016 show some pattern changes and globally the whales caught have halved.
The biggest decline in whale catches happened in Russia, in the 2012-16 period they only caught 10 per cent of their (USSR) 1986-90 numbers, followed by Japan, which reduced their numbers by 70 per cent.
