Over the years, the number of whales has dropped rapidly. From 1946 to 1986, about 340, 000 whales were killed. People worry that children in the future can only see whales in pictures. They believe all kinds of whale hunting (捕鲸) should be stopped before it's too late.
Some people are trying to stop whale hunting all over the world. But they fail to notice one fact:Whale hunting was going on for a long time before the number of whales went down and became a problem.
Whale hunting started as early as 1, 500 years ago. This was how tribespeople (部落成员) fed their families. They hunted whales for meat because almost nothing could grow on their land. They also made whale fat into oil and used it to make candles. Over the years, whale hunting became their way of living, and even part of who they are.
Tribe whale hunting is not the thing we should worry about. Over the past forty years, tribespeople only killed 10% of all the whales for living. The other 90% died at the hands of the money—making hunting business. When we try to stop all kinds of whale hunting, we should think what we are asking tribespeople to give up and whether this is the best answer to the problem of whale hunting.