The Icelandic government has announced that commercial whaling can resume after the activity was suspended for more than two months. In June, Svandís Svavarsdóttir, the country’s minister of food, agriculture…
Iceland has suspended its planned hunt for fin whales this year, citing animal welfare concerns. On June 20, Svandís Svavarsdóttir, the country’s minister of food, agriculture and fisheries, announced that…
Nearly twice the size of Africa, the North Pacific seems to be endless. But somewhere in that vast ocean, 30 eastern North Pacific right whales (Eubalaena japonica) live their lives,…
Midway through a recent documentary called Last of the Right Whales, we get a drone’s-eye view of half a dozen jet-black right whales cuddling and caressing while lolling in an…
The recent killing of 1,428 white dolphins in the Faroe Islands has brought renewed scrutiny to the island nation’s long-held tradition of driving cetaceans into shore and butchering them for…
The report came in from naturalists aboard a whale-watching boat: A 4-year-old whale calf was entangled in fishing rope. He appeared thin, and lesions mottled his body. A few days…
Norway plans to kill up to 1,278 minke whales this year, according to a recent announcement made by the country’s fisheries ministry. This is the same quota as the previous…
Four hundred and eighty-one. That’s how many minke whales Norway has killed so far this year, according to new data released by the country’s Fishermen’s Sales Organization, or Råfisklaget. That’s…
Newly released video footage gives us a glimpse of a rarely seen behavior: baby humpback whales nursing in the sheltered breeding grounds of Maui. Here, the young calves must drink…
Icelandic whaling company IP-Utgerd announced April 24 that it is stopping whaling completely, while the country’s largest whaling firm, Hvalur hf., says it won’t be hunting any whales for the…
Scientists and conservationists have long expressed concern about the consumption of bushmeat, mindful of its impact on wildlife and human health. Yet the marine equivalent has received relatively little attention,…
For years, Japan exploited a loophole in international rules to continue hunting whales despite being a member of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) bound by the commercial whaling moratorium that…
For centuries, Japanese seafarers have noted two distinct types of pilot whale in their waters. One, known as Naisa goto, has a squarish head, an almost entirely dark body and…
On today’s episode, we welcome Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Butler to discuss the biggest rainforest news stories of 2018 and what storylines to watch in 2019. He also discusses…
The government of Japan confirmed today that it is withdrawing from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and will resume commercial whaling operations in the North Pacific. The IWC, an inter-governmental…
Entanglement in fishing gear has claimed the life of a second North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) in 2018, according to reports from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).…
Japan’s whaling ships kill hundreds of whales almost every year. This year too, Japan has returned with a harvest of 333 Antarctic Minke whales (Balaenoptera bonaerensis), including 200 pregnant females.…
n the waters off Madagascar, scientists have at last encountered living members of a species of whale known only from old, dead specimens. Shaped like a sleek torpedo, with unusual…
halers from St. Vincent and the Grenadines recently caught four killer whales, raising health concerns over the consumption of cetacean meat as well as new scrutiny of the Caribbean country's exemption…
Antarctic minke whale caught be Japanese vessel, the Yushin Maru, in 2008. Photo by: Australian Customs and Border Protection Service. Last year, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that…
Past whaling may have resulted in lost cultural knowledge for world's biggest mammals Relict whaling and sealing ships at Grytviken, South Georgia. Photo by: Liam Quinn/Creative Commons 2.0. In 1904,…
Norway has its biggest minke whaling season in over 20 years. As of late August, Norway has killed 729 northern minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) during its annual whaling season, the…
Conservation groups were jubilant in response to last month's ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) banning Japan's long-standing "research" whaling practices in the Antarctic. However, the celebrations proved…
Japan has harvested thousands of whales in North Pacific and Antarctic waters since the implementation of a global ban on whaling, eliciting harsh criticism from the international community. Now, in…
Three dead minke whales photographed by Sea Shepherd's helicopter. Courtesy of Sea Shepherd Australia. Anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd said its fleet of ships has successfully disrupted the annual Japanese whale…
Australia is hoping to put a permanent end to Japan's annual slaughter of hundreds of whales in the Southern Ocean, in a landmark legal challenge that begins this week. Australia,…
Japan blamed environmental activists for a "record low" take during this year's whaling season in the Southern Ocean, reports Kyodo News. Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said the…
Amazon Japan, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, pulled all whale meat products (and possibly dolphin meat) from its site after a new report by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and the…
Minke whale kabob served up at the Sea Baron restaurant in Reykjavik Harbour area, Iceland. Photo by:Thjurexoell. How do you end a decades-long conflict between culture and conservation? How do…
Japan's dolphin hunt of Dall's porpoise (Phocoenoides dalli) could be making people sick, according to a new study by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Campaign Whale. The controversial hunt,…
