Whale meat. Credit: Shutterstock, Chris Christophersen
Iceland’s only active whaling company, Hvalur hf., will not be operating this summer, marking the second consecutive year without a hunting season.
According to reports, the company cited ongoing global economic pressures and declining demand for whale meat as the main reasons for the cancellation.
CEO Kristján Loftsson told Icelandic media: “As we see the situation, Hvalur hf. sees no other option than to stay in dock and await better times, but the situation will be reviewed next year.” Speaking to Euronews, he also explained that “the product price developments in our main market, Japan, have been unfavourable recently and are getting worse. The price of our products is now so low that it is not justifiable to hunt.”
Hvalur had held a permit to hunt 200 fin whales this season, but no whales have been caught by the company since 2022. Last year, a permit was issued just one day before the season began, which Loftsson said “made it impossible for the company to properly plan and execute their operations.”
Public and political backlash over whaling
Public support for commercial whaling in Iceland has been falling for years. A 2024 poll conducted by Maskína for the Iceland Nature Conservation Association found that more Icelanders believe whaling harms the country’s image abroad than helps it, cited by Evrim Ağacı.
Environmentalists and animal rights groups have welcomed the latest cancellation. Wendy Higgins, director of Humane World for Animals, said: “If true, this season’s whaling cancellation will spare the suffering and death of countless sentient whales for a brutal and pointless hunt that continues without moral or scientific justification. It’s time that Iceland’s whaling ship stopped turning the sea red once and for all. It’s time for a total ban on commercial whaling” (Cited by Evrim Ağacı).
Despite this, in December 2024, then-Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson granted Hvalur a whaling licence.
Iceland, along with Norway and Japan, is one of only three countries where commercial whaling remains legal. However, the industry is clearly in decline. Iceland’s second-largest whaling company, IP-Utgerd, shut down in 2020 after demand for whale meat collapsed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Interpol suspends Paul Watson’s arrest warrant
On April 9, Kyodo News reported that Interpol has suspended a global arrest warrant for Paul Watson, the founder of anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd. Watson, who is currently living in France, had been wanted by Japanese authorities for allegedly interfering with their research whaling activities in 2010.
A final decision on the warrant’s status is expected around June. The 74-year-old activist was previously detained in Greenland, but Danish authorities rejected Japan’s extradition request.
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