Soviet whaling was "central" is important, and the book would be fascinating but its central.. to a group of economies. It wasn't solely responsible. What the soviet union needed was protein. It bought fish from as many sources as possible. I don't like the lies told, about their catch rate to the IWC and I don't like the pressure they put on open markets to source this protein, irrespective of catch limits.
This is something the Chinese economy has to do as well. They over-fish far and wide. This has to be actively policed inside each maritime nations exclusive economic zone. It's a big deal, and its a big cost keeping the boats which do this at sea continuously.
Japan over caught wild tuna for decades. I personally believe the parade of IWC theatre, was being used by the Tuna industry to mask the real story of their rape of the sea. Whale meat was a manufactured demand, Tuna was endogenous. (we read of huge frozen stocks of whale, and whale being offered below cost in school meals) I really do think the omygodwhales reaction, allowed the tuna over-catch to "sail under the radar" for a long time.
(The Article explicitly calls out the UK, Japan and Norway in this story.)