Overview
- Hvalur, one of Iceland’s two remaining whaling companies, restarted seasonal hunting this month and sent two ships from Reykjavík before reporting the first fin whale kills since 2023.
- The company said on Sunday that two fin whales were successfully killed and were being brought to shore, marking the first commercial takes after a two-year pause for economic reasons.
- Protesters confronted the vessels as they left port, including an activist who briefly chained to a ship’s mast and was later removed by police using a crane.
- Iceland’s Marine and Freshwater Research Institute issued an advice cap of no more than 150 fin whales this year, and lawmakers are expected to introduce a draft bill to ban whaling in the autumn.
- Conservation groups condemned the killings and noted Iceland has taken more than 1,000 fin whales in the past two decades while only Norway and Japan otherwise allow commercial whaling, raising risks of international criticism and political fallout at home.