Citizens.

[NigsWhittington]

whales are intelligent mammals.

Sentient perhaps, but definitely not sapient. These are the same creatures that purposely beach themselves and die of dehydration. The same creatures that swim towards a large piece of metal floating on the surface because they think it's another whale.
If they were so intelligent, you'd have thought they'd have figured out that a boat isn't another whale. You'd have also thought that a sapient intelligence would migrate from wherever the population was being slaughtered to a safer area of Earth. The reason they don't is because they're stupid. Dolphins are infinitely smarter than a whale can ever hope to be. Hell, a tuna fish has a Ph.D when compared to a whale.