We all now know that many whale species were hunted to near extinction in the last two centuries. But when The HSUS was founded in 1954, the public had little idea of whales' plight—and these giants had few protections against whalers.

The HSUS began working to change this in 1958 by urging the United Nations to endorse the humane treatment of marine mammals. Our efforts on this front would culminate at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in the 1970s with a ban on the use of cold harpoons and later in the '80s with a ban of electric lances.

The HSUS had a strong voice in the first call at the United Nations for a global whaling moratorium in 1972, and two years later we endorsed the first of many boycotts to protest Japan's ongoing whaling. In 1976 our staff became a regular presence in IWC meetings, where we are now an even more prominent presence. We also worked to strengthen domestic protections, and in 1979 we helped ensure the passage of legislation denying fishing rights in U.S. waters to countries that flouted whale protection agreements.

Our efforts at the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea in 1981 helped ensure that coastal nations had the right not to use marine mammals as consumable resources under Article 65. In 1983 The HSUS was influential at the first Global Conference on the Non-Consumptive Utilization of Cetacean Resources, which introduced whale watching as an alternative to whaling. And our 1985 lawsuit resulted in Japan withdrawing its objection to the moratorium on whaling. We were also a leader that year in an international coalition promoting a boycott of fish and other products from Iceland, Japan, and Norway—our perennial foes in the fight to end whaling.

In 1986 the commercial whaling moratorium went into effect, but Iceland continued to commercially slaughter whales under a loophole allowing scientific research. So we used our muscle at the IWC the next year to stop Iceland from exploiting the loophole. And in 1988 The HSUS petitioned the U.S. Department of Commerce to sanction Iceland for its continuing whaling and pushed for a boycott of Iceland's fish.

We called for a boycott of Norway in 1993 for defying the moratorium, and we were instrumental at the IWC in creating whale sanctuaries on the high seas during the 1990s, including the Antarctic Sanctuary. We have also remained vigilant in ensuring that aboriginal whaling proposals meet IWC guidelines.

In recent years, with your support, our Save Whales—Not Whaling campaign even succeeded in limiting the sale of whale meat in many Japanese markets. And in 2003 we helped pave the way for the formation of the Conservation Committee in the IWC, which strengthened the body's protection agenda by providing the legal framework for it to evolve. Today whales still face threats from whaling—and other humane activity—but our work to protect them continues.