Iceland has resumed commercial whaling after a two-year hiatus. According to information from the public broadcaster RÚV and the Morgunbladid (MBL) newspaper portal, two ships of the company Hvalur, which is the only one still engaged in whaling, left the port in Reykjavík on Thursday. TASR informs about it with reference to Saturday’s reports of the Austrian ORF television and the AFP agency.
- Iceland has resumed commercial whaling after a two-year hiatus.
- The activist chained himself to the ship’s mast, after the protest the police detained him.
- Iceland is among the last three countries in the world to allow commercial whaling.
- The hunt was suspended in 2022 and 2023 for economic and ethical reasons.
- The government is preparing a complete ban on whaling.
The sailing of the ship Hvalur 9 was accompanied by an incident when an activist tied himself to one of the ship’s masts, who wanted to protest the continuation of whaling. After a few hours, he came down and the police detained him.
Criticism of conservation organizations
Along with Norway and Japan, Iceland is among the last three countries in the world that still allow commercial whaling, which has long drawn criticism from conservation organizations.
Joanna Swabe of the NGO Humane World for Animals called the resumption of hunting “deeply worrying”. According to her, there is convincing evidence that there is no humane way to kill a whale.
Conservationists have long warned about animal suffering, low economic returns and the negative impact on Iceland’s international reputation.
Commercial whaling, which traditionally takes place from mid-June to mid-September, has been suspended in Iceland in 2022 and 2023. The reason was the unfavorable economic situation, the reservations of conservationists and the declining demand for whale meat in the main export market in Japan.
The government is preparing a draft law on a complete ban on whaling
Based on the recommendation of Iceland’s Institute for Marine and Freshwater Research, no more than 150 individuals of the mouse wrasse (a 28 percent quota reduction), the second largest mammal on Earth, and 168 individuals of the small wrasse (a 23 percent quota reduction) should be caught this year.
At the same time, the government is preparing a draft law on a complete ban on whaling, which is to be submitted in the fall. If approved, Iceland would end one of its most controversial traditions after decades. In addition, a historic referendum is scheduled for August 29, which may definitively decide the fate of this increasingly loss-making industry.
A global ban on commercial whaling was approved by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1982 and officially entered into force in 1986.
