Because of their large size and supply of blubber blue whales were an extremely popular species to hunt and whalers would sell their blubber and body parts to suppliers who made various materials out of it.
In the past blue whales were hunted for:
In the past blue whales were hunted for:
- Oil – Lamp oil, soap, perfume, candles and cosmetics
- Food – Cooking oil, margarine and whale meat
- Clothing – corsets and umbrellas
- and various other products including tools such as fishing hooks.