- On Dec. 6, Iceland’s interim government announced it had issued five-year commercial whaling permits to hunt fin and minke whales.
- The permits, issued to domestic whaling companies Hvalur hf and Tjaldtangi, allow the hunting of 209 fin whales and 217 minke whales each year in Icelandic waters.
- The move follows recent government decisions to briefly pause whaling based on welfare concerns about using grenade-tipped harpoons for hunting, and then resume it again.
- Conservationists say the new whaling decision is a blow to marine conservation and question its timing by an interim government that’s soon due to hand over power to a coalition that isn’t pro-whaling.
On Dec. 6, Iceland’s caretaker government announced it had issued five-year licenses to hunt fin and minke whales in Icelandic waters. It granted the fin whale hunting license to Hvalur hf., the country’s only remaining fin-whaling company, run by billionaire Kristján Loftsson, and the minke-hunting permit to a ship owned by Tjaldtangi ehf., a whaling company that was previously licensed to hunt minke whales.
The licenses were issued by Iceland’s caretaker prime minister, who also serves as the minister of food, agriculture and fisheries, Bjarni Benediktsson. They allow the companies to hunt 209 fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) and 217 minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) each year between 2025 and 2029. The government says this quota is based on population assessments by the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Council, an international body for cooperation on the conservation, management and study of whales, dolphins and seals in the region. In 2015, the council estimated that around 41,000 fin whales inhabited the waters around Iceland and Eastern Greenland, and their numbers were increasing. With surveys from 2014 to 2019, the council estimated that around 50,000 minkes lived in an overlapping but smaller area, with their numbers around Iceland’s coastal areas having declined compared to earlier years.
“The management of the exploitation of living marine resources in Iceland is under strict constraints and the total allowable catch for fin whales and minke whales shall follow the fisheries advice of the Marine Research Institute based on sustainable exploitation and the precautionary approach,” the Icelandic version of the government announcement states.
The five-year licenses follow similar announcements made in 2009, 2014 and 2019. The government announcement said long-term licenses ensure “some predictability” for whaling companies, compared to a one-year license issued in June 2024 that allowed Hvalur to hunt 99 fin whales during the June-September hunting season.
Iceland is one of just three countries (alongside Japan and Norway) that allow commercial whaling despite a 1986 moratorium by the International Whaling Commission (IWC). Hunting only fin and minke whales is permitted in the country, while other species are protected. Fin whales, the planet’s second-largest mammals, with females averaging 22 meters (73 feet) long, are classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, and are slowly recovering after decades of commercial whaling decimated their numbers worldwide. Common minke whales, the smallest and the most abundant of the baleen whales, are classified as a species of least concern on the red list.
Whaling has been controversial in recent years in Iceland. In 2022, the minister of food, agriculture and fisheries at the time, Svandís Svavarsdóttir, said Iceland might end whaling by 2024 as the demand for whale products was dwindling. In 2023, she suspended whaling, citing findings from the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority (MAST) that the grenade-tipped harpoons used to hunt were causing prolonged deaths for some whales — a decision hailed by conservation organizations.
However, the recent announcement to issue whaling licenses until 2029 has squashed their hopes that the country might outlaw whale hunts altogether.
“We are deeply disappointed and concerned by the Icelandic caretaker government’s decision to issue new whaling licences,” Luke McMillan, head of hunting and captivity at U.K.-based conservation organization Whale and Dolphin Conservation, said in an email to Mongabay. “Issuing these licences disregards the environmental, economic, and moral arguments against whaling and places Iceland in an unfavorable international spotlight.”
Questionable timing
Iceland’s ruling Independence Party, headed by Prime Minister Benediktsson, is on its way out after losing a snap election on Nov. 30. It now leads an interim government until a new coalition of three left-leaning parties forms the next government. Its decision to issue whaling licenses outside of the whaling season has prompted criticism.
“It raises serious ethical questions, as the decision was made by a caretaker government that is meant to avoid controversial policymaking, particularly in light of strong ties between prominent figures in the whaling industry and Iceland’s political elite,” McMillan said.
Sharon Livermore, director for marine conservation programs at the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), a U.S.-based advocacy group, told Mongabay that the parties involved in the new coalition government aren’t pro-whaling and called the decision a “panic move” by the outgoing government, given that whaling licenses are typically issued in the spring, closer to the whaling season.
In 2022, after the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority found that some whales took too long to die, a working group was set up to assess animal welfare concerns regarding the current hunting practices. Its final report, which could have implications for whaling in the country, is yet to be made public.
“I think any government that was in power should be waiting for that assessment to be finalized, if we’re going to look at a continuity of practice and make sure that work that has been done is not wasted,” Livermore said.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries acknowledged Mongabay’s questions in an email seeking comment for this story but didn’t provide any response by the time of publication.
In its 2024 whaling permit application, Hvalur hf. stated it would invest in, develop and refine its hunting equipment and fishing methods to improve animal welfare standards. Company owner Loftsson didn’t respond to Mongabay’s request for comment on the improved hunting methods prior to publication.
Economics of whaling in Iceland
Historical records indicate Icelanders engaged in small-scale whaling beginning in the 12th century. However, commercial whaling in the country dates back to the 1600s, when the Basques set up whaling stations in the region. Over the centuries, the practice continued to meet the demand for whale products, especially whale oil. Currently, whaling caters to the whale meat market. Iceland maintains its whaling operations are scientifically managed, and that the IWC moratorium contradicts the purpose of the convention to regulate whaling under which the body was established.
According to data from IFAW, 1,017 fin whales were killed in Iceland between 2009 and 2024, and 654 minke whales were hunted between 2003 and 2024. A 2023 poll found that more than half of Icelanders oppose whaling, and domestic support for whale hunting is at an all-time low. A 2024 poll found that two out of five Icelanders say they believe whaling weakens Iceland’s position in international trade.
Minke whale meat is sold in some grocery stores and served to tourists visiting Iceland. Declining profits in minke whale hunting forced Icelandic whaling company IP-Utgerd to cease operations in 2020.
Fin whale meat is mostly exported to Japan and isn’t consumed locally. However, with Japan increasing its domestic fin whale hunting, the demand for Iceland’s fin whales is expected to diminish.
“Nobody’s eating the fin whale meat, so it gets stored in freezers for years and years on end,” Livermore said. “So these animals have died a needless death — an incredibly long and painful death … it’s just a waste of time and a waste of money.”
Fin whales are a CITES Appendix I species, which means their international trade is prohibited. However, Iceland and Japan, along with Norway and Palau, have taken out “reservations” against this listing to carry on legal trade.
In a report McMillan said he compiled for the Icelandic government, he points out that the annual accounts of Hvalur hf. indicate that the company’s whaling operations aren’t making money and that between 2012 and 2020, the company’s losses from whaling amounted to 3 billion krona ($2.1 million at current rates). The report also makes the case that whaling is likely to do more harm than good to the Icelandic economy and doesn’t provide long-term job security for employees.
“[W]e urge Iceland to permanently ban whaling and shift focus to industries that align with its growing reputation as an eco-conscious nation, such as sustainable tourism and responsible whale watching,” McMillan said. “These sectors not only generate far more revenue but also preserve the natural heritage that makes Iceland unique.”
With cetaceans worldwide threatened by climate change, loss of prey, entanglement, underwater noise and ship strikes, whaling only adds to this list, Livermore said. “Being harpooned is an unnecessary threat that these animals do not have to face,” she said. “It shouldn’t be the discussion in 2024-2025 … the discussion should be, how do we bring an end to this.”
Banner image: Fin whales, the second-largest mammal on earth, are hunted in Iceland, and their meat is exported to Japan. Image courtesy of Aqqa Rosing-Asvid – Visit Greenland via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).
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