 Whaling for sperm whales was by far the bulk of all operations in the North Pacific, indeed so much that whaling in this region could have never existed without the presence of the sperm whale.The large males, which were the most coveted in whaling operations, had already been rapidly depleted, but since size restrictions existed for females, it was assumed that males would have to make up most of the catch.Nevertheless, during the period 1972–1977, as much as 80% of the catch in most areas was females, whereas in the period 1970–71, 9,000 females were caught but only 1,800 reported, while in the same years 12,300 males were reported but only 5,700 killed.