Iceland to end whaling by 2024

Commercial whaling could end in Iceland by 2024, according to governmental officials.

Icelandic Fisheries Minister, Svandis Svavarsdottir, said it is unlikely that whaling licences will be renewed when the existing quotas expire in 2023 as the practice has become economically unjustifiable.

Demand for whale meat in Iceland is low, with very few Icelanders buying or consuming it. Furthermore, exports of whale meat have also rapidly declined since Japan recommenced commercial whaling in 2019.

This rare Blue × Fin Whale hybrid was slaughtered in Iceland in 2018 (Arne Feuerhahn / ORCA).

Along with Norway, Iceland is one of only two European countries that still participate in commercial whaling. Iceland recommenced in the practice in 2006, despite the International Whaling Commission issuing a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986.

Iceland's annual quotas for 2019-23 allow for the hunting of 209 Fin and 217 Minke Whales. However, the two primary licence-holding companies have suspended their hunts for the past three years, with one of these packing up entirely in 2020. Reports suggest that only one whale has been killed in the past three years (a Minke Whale in 2021).

The last Fin Whale hunts took place in 2018 – 146 individuals, including many pregnant females and at least two rare Blue × Fin Whale hybrids, were slaughtered that year.

The COVID-19 pandemic further hampered the industry, with social distancing restrictions meaning that whale meat processing plants were unable to operate as normal. Whaling was also becoming more economically unjustifiable, with whalers being forced to travel further offshore due to the extension of the whale sanctuary at Faxaflói Bay, off Reykjavik.

Additionally, safety requirements for imported whale meat were more stringent than for local products, making it even more difficult for Iceland to export its whale meat.

Sally Hamilton, Director of marine conservation group ORCA, said: "Whaling is a brutal and barbaric practice that has no place in the modern world. This is further evidence that the commercial whaling industry is in decline, and with sales of meat falling it is more important than ever that action is taken. The public, NGOs, governments and industry must continue to pressure the handful of countries flying in the face of the overwhelming global consensus on this practice so that one day we can see an ocean where whales are safe from hunting."