Whaling licenses in Iceland are unlikely to be renewed when they expire at the end of 2023, according to Svands Svavarsdóttir, Iceland’s Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture. This effectively puts an end to commercial whaling in Iceland, which was reintroduced in 2006. However, it’s possible that it’s not because of the nation’s controversial whaling tactics. Whale hunting appears to have lost its economic appeal, and a combination of pandemic limitations and Japan’s resumption of commercial whale hunting in 2019 has driven the few companies still licensed to shoot these marine mammals to cease operations.
“The existing fishing privileges will last until 2023. Whaling will be prohibited from 2024 onwards, as before “Svavarsdóttir, a member of Iceland’s Green Party, made the announcement on the party’s official website.”It must be proven that renewing fishing rights is economically viable. These fisheries have historically had a negative impact on the country’s export interests. Although it is unreadable, the reputational danger associated with preserving this fishery is significant.”
146 fin whales and six Minke whales were killed by companies in the Nordic country in 2018. Icelandic whalers were also accused of killing a rare blue whale hybrid that year. Blue whales, the world’s largest animals, are an endangered species due to centuries of human whaling and must be preserved worldwide.
For the years 2019-23, Iceland’s annual quotas allow for the hunting of 209 fin whales (the second largest whale) and 217 minke whales (the smallest). Only one whale has been killed in the last three years, a minke whale in 2021, after some of Iceland’s top commercial whaling businesses cancelled their hunts for 2019 and 2020.
Iceland is one of the few countries that has formally opposed to the International Whaling Commission’s ongoing global whaling moratorium, which was established in 1986, and it was sanctioned by the US in 2011 for continued whaling. At this time, it is uncertain what position the country will take on the issue after 2024.
Because the country’s two largest whaling companies decided to halt the summer whaling season, Iceland’s whales will be protected from harpoons and nets for another year. IP-Utgerd, an Icelandic whaling company that specialized in hunting minke whales, has expressed its desire to quit whaling completely, according to the AFP news agency. Meanwhile, for the second year in a row, Hvalur hf, the country’s largest fin whale whaling company, has ceased operations.
