The developments of the pelagic whaling industry after the first world war took a giant step because of the introduction of a slipway built into the factory ship which enabled the complete whale to be pulled aboard the ship this was carried out again through the development of a device called the whale claw. Both of these inventions are attributed to the Norwegians. The Norwegians played the most significant party of the development of modern pelagic whaling.

Since the development of pelagic whaling this enabled companies to follow the whales in the southern oceans and Antarctic waters there was no constraints on any whaling they carried out because this was in international waters and was not subject to any controls from various countries, in other words they had a free hand. This again lead to over exploitation an ultimately the formation of the IWC. Click here for details on International Whaling Commission.

During the world recession of the early thirties the price of whale oil plummeted and most whaling companies then ceased to operate, as it was not viable. Although whaling ceased during this period it did not allow the stocks of whale to recover as in these days little was known about the lifecycle of the whale and how quickly they reproduced.