Commercial whaling in Iceland could be banned within two years after a government minister said there was little justification for the practice. The northern European country is one of the few places worldwide to allow whale hunting.
Commercial whaling was banned in 1986. However, Japan, Norway, and Iceland have killed nearly 40,000 large whales since then. Over 100,000 dolphins, small whales, and porpoises are also killed in various countries each year.
“There are few justifications to authorize whale hunting beyond 2024,” when current quotas expire, Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture Svandís Svavarsdottir said in an op-ed in Friday’s Morgunblaoio newspaper, according to CTV News Canada.
Svavarsdottir pointed out in the op-ed that it is “undisputed” that whale hunting had not had much economic significance to Iceland in recent years, with no big whale caught in the last three years, except for one minke whale in 2021.
Iceland’s most recent annual quotas include the hunting of 209 fin whales, which are considered endangered, and 217 minke whales, one of the smallest species.
She said this would be a key factor in the decision over whether to extend whaling beyond 2023.
“Japan has been the largest buyer of [Icelandic] whale meat, but its consumption is declining year by year. Why should Iceland take the risk of continuing fishing that has not yielded economic benefits, in order to sell a product that is in low demand?” she asked.
When Japan resumed commercial whaling in 2019, after a three-decade hiatus, it caused a significant drop in demand for Iceland’s whale exports, making hunting less profitable.
There are a couple of other factors to weigh in the minister’s decision to ban whaling. One is the social distancing rules created by the pandemic that has made whale meat processing plants less efficient, and the extension of the no-fishing coastal zone that has made whaling more costly.
Svavarsdottir also said that Iceland’s whaling activities can have a negative impact on the economy, for example, the US-based chain Whole Foods stopped marketing Icelandic products when commercial whaling resumed there in 2006.
Commercial whaling amid controversy
Commercial whaling was banned in a 1986 International Whaling Commission (IWC) embargo. However, in 2018, Japan withdrew from the IWC and marked its return to whaling by harpooning two minke whales.
According to the IWC, whose purpose is “to provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry,” Iceland continued a small “scientific whaling program” after the 1986 embargo.
Iceland left the IWC in 1992 but rejoined in 2002, this time taking out a “reservation” against the embargo.
Iceland resumed commercial whaling in October 2006 in a move “furiously disputed by many countries angry at what they regarded as Iceland’s attempt to bypass international regulations,” according to Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), a non-profit organization.
Fin whales are classed as a vulnerable species on The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, while sei whales are categorized as endangered. The status of minke whales is unknown, according to the Red List.
