 Being part of the USSR’s planned economy (during the 1950s through the 1970s the USSR’s planned economy was by far the largest in the world), Soviet whaling went through an ambiguous and often convoluted process that had little to do with actual demand (or sustainability for the matter).The production targets, initially set by the Ministry of Food and Light Industry, were soon transferred to the newly created Ministry of Fisheries as Soviet whaling and fishing became a large, global industry.Once whaling was established as a reliable economic activity at the end of the 1940s, the first production targets were set, probably on the advice of the whalers who recommended they be set according to initial catches regardless of sustainability (sustainability was largely ignored throughout the entire history of Soviet whaling and targets almost always exceeded maximum sustainable yield).