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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...

Success – no fin whaling in Iceland this summer!

Amazing news just coming in from Iceland – Kristjan Loftsson, Iceland’s sole fin whaler, today announced that his company, Hvalur hf, won’t be killing endangered fin whales off Iceland this summer! 

Loftsson’s whaling company, Hvalur hf,  has killed 706 fin whales since 2006, but hopefully the slaughter has come to an end. Loftsson partly blames difficulties in exporting his meat from Iceland to his only customer, Japan, and also denounces Japanese whale meat analysis methods, claiming “If we had known what was in store in Japan, we would not have started again.”

WDC has long campaigned against commercial whaling of both fin and minke whales in Iceland, and the transit of fin whale meat to Japan. Since 2006, over 7,300 tonnes of fin whale meat and blubber has been exported to Japan. From 2013, protests by WDC forced Loftsson to abandon his preferred route via EU ports and the Suez canal.  Instead, in 2014, Hvalur hf exported a record 2,000 tonnes of fin whale meat to Japan, taking a much longer route via the west coast of Africa and around the Cape of Good Hope; whilst in 2015, 1,800 tonnes of fin whale meat was exported to Japan via Russia’s Northeast Passage.