After a century of commercial exploitation that nearly wiped out whale populations, a moratorium on the slaughter of whales was established in 1986. Since then, every year, the member countries of the International Whaling Commission tear each other apart over the possible resumption of the hunt. Vote buying, so-called scientific whaling and blaming whale for declining fish stocks are all part of the new tactics used by modern whalers. But conservationists argue that whale stocks have not yet recovered from a bloody past. What is the future for the last of the planet's giants?