Comments: Some stocks (e.g., Sea of Japan/Yellow Sea/East China Sea stock and northeastern North Atlantic stock) have been depleted by commercial whaling (IUCN 1991). There is concern about the status of the West Greenland stock, where catches by local people for their own use continue (IUCN 1991). In the early 1990s, there was strong pressure from some countries to reopen commercial whaling for this species.