The ships of Hvalur, Iceland’s ultimate whaler, are about to set sail for their first hunt in three years, and which may well be the last. The government is considering not renewing the quotas.
Article written by
Posted
Reading time : 2 min.
Highly criticized around the world, whaling is still practiced in Iceland, Japan and Norway. But for three years, the boats of the last whaler of the North Atlantic island, Hvalur, had remained at the quay. Its CEO explains this because of endless discussions with the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority, which issues its meat processing plant with the operating license essential to its activity. A long process, very meticulous, according to him, which finally ended last October.
>> To read also: The whaling countries again scuttle the creation of a sanctuary in the South Atlantic
The Covid-19 and the rules of distancing have also slowed down activity, but the Icelandic government, like the associations for the defense of whales, evokes a drop in demand to explain this immobilization. Especially since Japan, where Iceland exports more than 90% of the products from this controversial activity, resumed commercial hunting three years ago. An argument refuted by the CEO of Hvalur who maintains that the Japanese market is still in demand. Its ships are currently being refitted at the port of Reykjavík and will be ready to sail around mid-June for the start of the summer campaign.
Hvalur only hunts the fin whale, the second largest living mammal on the planet after the blue whale, and can spear up to 209 animals per year during the summer period which generally extends from mid-June to the end of September depending on weather conditions. Icelandic quotas also allow for the taking of 217 minke whales. But the only specialist whaler for this species of mammal has decided to stop definitively in 2020, the activity no longer being sufficiently viable after the establishment of an exclusion zone on the west coast of Iceland. These limits are in effect until 2023. This could be one of the last whaling campaigns in Iceland.
The Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries has already expressed this idea publicly at the beginning of February in a column in a local daily and writes that she sees no reason, in the state, to renew the quotas in 2024. She evokes an activity that weighs little for the country’s economy due to very low demand for whale meat. The CEO of Hvalur assures that this is a personal point of view and that no government decision has yet been made on this subject. What is true: the Minister has commissioned a study to find out the social and economic benefits of whaling, arguments that will serve as the basis for the decision to renew whether or not to renew the quotas. The results are expected by the end of the year.