1971 The US Congress passes resolutions asking the Secretary of State to call for a 10 - year international moratorium on commercial whaling. (awionline.org)
Japan has long maintained that most whale species are not endangered and began what it called scientific whaling in 1987, a year after an international moratorium came into effect, despite growing global outrage, including from key allies such as the United States. (scientificamerican.com)
Japan joined an international moratorium on commercial whaling in 1982, but continued with «scientific» whaling programs that it claimed were exempt from the agreement. (sciencemag.org)