This Thursday, Iceland gave permission to two vessels to continue whaling, a questionable activity that is only practiced by two other countries: Norway and Japan. The Icelandic government has opened permitting for a further five years, until 2029, to 209 fin whales and 217 minke whales per season, which runs from mid-June to September.
In 2023, Iceland suspended whaling for two months following a government investigation that found the methods used breached animal welfare laws. In this study, the public veterinary agency showed that the explosive harpoons used by hunters caused agony for several hours in the prey.
After this investigation, The government authorized the resumption of hunting with certain restrictions on the methods used and imposing the presence of official inspectors on board the whalers, who must film the hunt for each cetacean. “Democracy was not respected and the granting of the permit violates the interests of the climate, nature and animal welfare,” the Icelandic Environmental Association and its youth protested in a joint statement.
Activism
The The Icelandic government’s decision came three days after a Greenland courtan autonomous territory of Denmark, decided to prolong the provisional detention of the environmental activist Paul Watsonwhose extradition Japan requested as a result of its fight against whaling.
The 73-year-old environmental activist, who has American and Canadian nationality and recently applied for French citizenship, was arrested on July 21 in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland. When he was arrested, Watson, founder of the NGO Sea Shepherd, was aboard his ship “John Paul DeJoria” with the aim of intercepting a Japanese whaler. Japan requests his extradition for a 2010 case, also related to whaling.
