The gentle giants of the ocean, a very wonderful creatures. They are no harm to humans but some humans has an acquired taste for this harmless giants.
If you have seen the show "Whale wars," these people devote their life to save the whales and stop Japanese whaling ships on killings whales. The Japanese whaling ships violate the international water but their government back them up. Their whaling ships has a "RESEARCH" name on it. They are allowed to kill a whale for research and they can sell they remaining whale meet in Japanese market.
It's obvious that they are only using the "Research" thing as cover up so they can kill whales and their government tolerate it by giving them permit even they now what's going on.