With whaling, New Bedford used to be the energy capital of the world.
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Amid the controversy, many here are focusing on the town's history rather than its future: a new museum about Jangsengpo's whaling culture opened a few years ago, complete with an old whaling vessel and its harpoon.
Then there is Deborah Basset, environmental activist and supporter of Sea Shepherd, an international NGO that hunts down whaling vessels with its very own navy.
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Two hundred years ago, New Bedford put itself on the world map with its investment in a whaling fleet.
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It has made agreements with the captains of Eskimo whaling boats to move drilling ships out of hunting grounds during the open-water period so they can hunt Bowhead whales.
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Even the keenest of those involved with the plan for pro- and anti-whaling countries to spend a year working out their differences and trying to agree some kind of compromise package acknowledge there is a great deal of ground to be covered.
But in the febrile and anarchic world of whaling, it's become politicised, with different blocs arguing for the position that suits them best.
And then comes whaling and dolphin-slaying, where the cultural gap with much of the Western world appears at its widest.
Just a few years ago, the twin blocs of countries in favour of and opposed to whaling slung verbal darts at each other all week long with barely a pause for breath.
It has negotiated with indigenous tribes and agreed to halt its activities during the traditional summer whaling season.
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In 2010 he teamed up with actor Pierce Brosnan to successfully pressure the White House to renew a moratorium on whaling.
Its own interpretation of rules on aboriginal subsistence whaling (ASW) is that countries are entitled to set their own quotas, provided they are consistent with IWC scientific advice.
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