Whaling is actually a perfect example of the market at work. Are we still dependant on whale oil? NO. Do we currently have BETTER alternatives to whale oil at lower prices? YES.
How much does a gallon of whale oil cost compared to a gallon of crude? It was the market that gave us these things.
So it is quite accurate to say that petroleum technology "saved the whales".
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Turning attention to the price data, we may note first how expensive whale oil was in comparison with the crude oil that replaced it. Even at its lowest historical prices, in the 1820s, the least expensive type of oil (whale oil) was priced at more than $200 (2003$) a barrel (42 gallons). At its highest price level (1855) Sperm Whale oil sold at more than $35 (2003$) a gallon, namely almost $1500 (2003$) a barrel (!). This tells us something about how difficult it may be to substitute fossil fuels with "biofuels" (bio-ethanol, bio-diesel, or other). Without the support of fertilizers, irrigation, transportation, and agricultural machinery, which all depend on fossil fuels, biofuels would probably cost as much today as whale oil did in the 19th Century. It also shows what an incredible bonanza crude oil has been. When kerosene became first available in the 1860s, a barrel of crude oil sold for some $90 a barrel in to-day's money (data from
www.wtrg.com). In the 1870-80s it had already fallen to values in the order of $20 (2003$) a barrel, comparable with modern prices.
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In his 1878 book, Alexander Starbuck cited several factors for the decline of production of the whale fisheries in times that for him were recent. He seems to have believed that it was not the extermination of the whales that caused the decline but, rather, the increase of the human population which led to "
an increase in consumption beyond the power of the fishery to supply."
But it was also clear to him that the cost and the length of voyages had increased beyond reasonable limits. He did cite "the scarcity and shyness of whales" as a problem, but he stops short of saying that the whale stock was depleted beyond recovery. Most likely, the concept of "extinction" was alien to him, as it was to most of his contemporaries.
http://www.energybulletin.net/node/3338