Whaling is the hunting of whales for meat, oil and "scientific research". Before 1986, tens of thousands of whales were being hunted for commercial use but the International Whaling Commission banned this commercial whaling in hopes the declining population would hopefully restock. Japan strongly objected to this but a few years later they withdrew this objection. But recently whaling has been re-introduced in the form of whaling for scientific research.
However most of these whales that are whaled, end up being butchered, restaurants and sold in the local butchers and supermarkets as traditional foods in countries such as Japan and Greenland.