From Sag Harbor to Sustainability

§ 1 The Sag Harbor whaling era

In the 1820s through the 1870s, Long Island's Sag Harbor was a global whaling capital. Crews left port for two- to four-year voyages and returned with barrels of whale oil rendered from blubber, plus baleen (the long, comb-like plates inside some whales' mouths). Whale oil was the lamp fuel that lit American cities at night, and baleen was the springy plastic of its day — used in corsets, umbrella ribs, and buggy whips. The most-hunted species off our coast was the North Atlantic right whale, called "right" because it swam slowly near shore, floated when killed, and gave huge amounts of oil. By 1850, Sag Harbor had about 60 active whaling ships. By 1870, the industry was collapsing. Petroleum had been discovered in Pennsylvania in 1859, and kerosene quickly replaced whale oil. The whales themselves were nearly gone from local waters.

§ 2 Global collapse and the 1986 moratorium

After American whaling faded, industrial whaling exploded worldwide. Steam-powered catcher boats and exploding harpoons (invented in the 1860s) let whalers hunt the fastest, biggest species — blue whales, fin whales, and sperm whales — in the open ocean and even in Antarctica. Between 1900 and 1986, an estimated 2.9 million large whales were killed. Blue whale numbers dropped from about 250,000 globally to fewer than 400 in the Southern Ocean by the 1960s. In 1986, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) passed a worldwide ban — called a moratorium — on commercial whaling. Most nations stopped. Populations of humpback, gray, and southern right whales began to slowly recover.

§ 3 Modern whaling and the right whale crisis

Today only three countries still hunt whales commercially: Japan, Norway, and Iceland. Japan's 2025 quota was 413 whales (mostly minke and Bryde's). Norway raised its 2026 quota to 1,641 minke whales, but in 2025 hunters actually killed only 429 — demand for whale meat has collapsed. About 95% of Japanese people rarely or never eat whale meat, and surplus meat is now sold as pet food. Iceland's only whaling company did not hunt at all in 2024 or 2025, and Iceland's government has announced plans to introduce legislation to end commercial whaling in fall 2026.

Indigenous subsistence whaling — by Alaska Native, Greenlandic, and Russian Chukotka communities — continues under strict IWC quotas for food and cultural use. But the bigger crisis off Long Island today is not hunting. It is the North Atlantic right whale. Only about 380 are left, with roughly 70 reproductive females. They migrate every winter between feeding grounds in the Gulf of Maine and calving grounds off Florida — passing directly through the shipping lanes at the entrance to New York Harbor. One famous female, named "Accordion," has propeller scars across her back that look like the folds of the instrument. Vessel strikes and entanglement in lobster gear are the two leading causes of death. The 2026 calving season was the best in 17 years — 23 calves were born. Scientists call it cautious optimism.