Hey, those whales DROWNED in the GREAT FLOOD, and you know it. /s
So it's just as well Noah managed to get a couple of whales and a pair of breeding pigs on his boat or there wouldn't have been any lard or whale oil harvest possible; the prime lubricants and light sources before the discovery of oil seeps, initially utilized in the production of kerosene...
THE PRIZE The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power, by Daniel Yergin.
One might conclude that it was the oil industry which saved the whale.