How did airplanes and helicopters help whaling fleets locate whales?

In the context of modern whaling, airplanes and helicopters were employed by whaling fleets to spot whales from the air, significantly enhancing the efficiency of locating these animals in vast ocean waters.12

Once a whale was spotted and subsequently harpooned by a whale catcher, the vessel would inflate the carcass with compressed air to keep it afloat, mark it for identification, and radio its location to a factory ship for collection. This integration of aerial reconnaissance and radio communication allowed fleets to coordinate their efforts more effectively, contributing to the rapid depletion of whale populations during the 20th century.12