Skip to content
All news
  • All news
  • About whales & dolphins
  • Corporates
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Green Whale
  • Prevent bycatch
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Science
  • Scottish Dolphin Centre
  • Stop whaling
  • Stranding
WDC2023-007 NMLC Release (16)

Seal Rescued in Marshfield Released Back Into The Wild

For Immediate Release, May 31, 2023 PLYMOUTH, MA - A young male grey seal that...

Norway ups whale kill numbers and removes whale welfare protections

The whaling season in Norway has begun on the back of disturbing announcements from the...
Image taken from an unmanned hexacopter at >100ft during a research collaboration between NOAA/SWFSC, SR3 and the Coastal Ocean Research Institute. Research authorized by NMFS permit #19091.

Southern Resident orca petition to list them under Oregon Endangered Species Act advanced

The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission voted today to advance a petition seeking to protect...
Hysazu Photography

WDC and Conservation Partners Continue to Seek Oregon Endangered Species Protection for Southern Resident Orcas

On Friday, April 21st, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission will determine whether the petition...

Endangered fin whale killed in first Icelandic hunt of the season

Conservation groups including WDC are calling on the International Whaling Commission (IWC – the organisation that regulates whaling) and its member governments to condemn Iceland’s commercial whale hunt following the first kill of the 2014 hunting season – an endangered fin whale.

The whale was killed off Iceland’s west coast on Tuesday and landed at the company’s processing station in Hvalfjörður, less than an hour’s drive from the capital Reykjavik.

In addition to meat, the blubber and offal of the fin whale killed today will be rendered into oil.

Iceland whaling - fin whale killed in 2014The slaughter of the fin whale coincides with a working party meeting of the European Union Environment Council in preparation for the meeting of the IWC in September, and WDC is pushing for governments to take a strong stand against Icelandic whaling ahead of, and during, the meeting.

Since 2008, more than 5,540 tonnes of fin whale meat has been exported, with an unprecedented single shipment of 2,000 tonnes to Japan in March this year. Iceland re-joined the IWC in 2002 but does not recognise the global ban on commercial whaling adopted in 1982. The country’s commercial whaling resumed in 2006. Almost all the fin whale meat originating from the 2014 hunt is destined for Japan, despite a ban on international trade in fin whales under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

What can you do?

Support WDC’s campaign to stop the transfer of Iceland’s whale products through EU ports