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
Icelandic hunting vessels in port

Whaling boat kept in port after more hunt cruelty exposed

Icelandic whale hunting fleet One of the whaling boats involved in the latest hunts in...
Commerson's dolphin

New Important Marine Mammal Areas added to global ocean conservation list

Commerson's dolphin Experts from a number of countries have mapped out a new set of...
Fin whale shot with two harpoons

Whalers kill just days after Iceland’s hunt suspension is lifted

Whalers in Iceland have claimed their first victims since the lifting (just a few days...
Fin whale

Icelandic government lifts suspension on cruel hunts

The Icelandic government is to allow fin whales to be hunted again after lifting a...
All policy news
  • All policy news
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Prevent bycatch
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Stop whaling
  • Strandings

Whale culture should play a part in their conservation says new international study

An international group of researchers working on a wide range of species, including whales, argues...

No change in Norway whaling quota as number of whales to be killed remains high

Norway’s Minister of Fisheries has announced that the country has set itself the same number...

Preparations for beluga whale move to Iceland continue

Ahead of the relocation of Little White and Little Grey to the world’s first open...
Photo taken by Sea to Shore Alliance under NOAA Permit #15488

Senate Leaders Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Save the North Atlantic Right Whale

After a deadly summer for North Atlantic right whales, Senators Booker (D-NJ), Isakson (R-GA) and...

Norway’s whaling future uncertain after survey shows little domestic appetite for whale meat

The future of Norway’s whaling industry appears to be in serious doubt as it struggles...
nmfs_beluga_drone_laura_morse_afsc

Moving in the wrong direction: new application would bring belugas to US marine parks

Earlier this year, WDC celebrated the passage of a landmark law to ban whale and...

Financial worth of whales revealed

https://us.whales.org/2019/09/27/financial-worth-of-whales-revealed/
Two beautiful Hector's dolphins leap just off new Zealand's coast. © Mike Bossley

Significant Victory for WDC in Fight to Save World’s Smallest Dolphins

A significant victory in the fight to save dolphins in New Zealand from extinction! This...
Orcas are crammed together in sickening conditions

Russian Citizens Call For Action to Prevent Another Whale Jail

Reports from inside Russia have revealed more than 100,000 petition signers have raised their objections...
Fin whale

Positive whaling news emerges from Iceland

News is emerging from Iceland that the company behind Iceland’s fin whale hunts, Hvalur hf,...

WDC funded research shows ‘pingers’ could save porpoises from fishing nets

Underwater sound devices called ‘pingers’ could be an effective, long-term way to prevent porpoises getting...

WDC scientists join call for global action to protect whales and dolphins from extinction

Scientists from Whale and Dolphin Conservation, along with over 250 other experts from 40 countries,...

Positive whaling news emerges from Iceland

Fin whale

News is emerging from Iceland that the company behind Iceland’s fin whale hunts, Hvalur hf, will not be venturing out to kill endangered fin whales this summer. 

According to Icelandic press reports, Hvalur hf’s owner, Kristian Loftsson, has said the hunts will not take place due to tough market conditions in Japan. This will be the second year in a row that the company will not conduct any fin whale hunts. The last hunts to take place off the coast of Iceland two years ago saw over 146 fin whales killed, including at least two rare blue whale/fin whale hybrids and a dozen pregnant females.

Loftsson also states the difficulty of whaling and processing whale meat during the current COVID-19 pandemic as another reason not to hunt this year.

It is unclear whether Loftsson's reasons for abandoning the summer hunts are the only pieces of the puzzle. Whaling continues to be largely unprofitable. The hunts are increasingly unpopular in Iceland.

WDC CEO, Chris Butler-Stroud said, ‘This decision will see the lives of hundreds of the world’s most remarkable fellow creatures saved. For many years WDC has been illustrating the fact that commercial whaling has only survived because of perverse government subsidies abusing taxpayers’ monies to keep their fleets afloat. Unable to sell whale meat to Icelanders at home,  it’s now comical to see Iceland’s infamous whaler Kristján Loftsson complaining about Japanese government subsidies distorting a market that would never exist if it had to rely on consumer demand alone.’

WDC has long campaigned against commercial whaling of both fin and minke whales in Iceland, and the transit of fin whale meat to Japan.

Leave a Comment