Moves to overturn whaling ban rejected
Last week, the 68th meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC, the body that regulates whale hunting) took place in Portorož, Slovenia. WDC has sent experts to participate in this forum for more than 25 years. For decades, whaling and whale conservation interests have clashed at the IWC and this year, once again, a motion…
Read More200 pilot whales killed in latest Faroese slaughter
More than 200 pilot whales have been slaughtered in Sandagerði (Torshavn) in the Faroe Islands. The long-finned pilot whales were driven onto the ‘whaling beach’ and brutally killed. The hunt, is just one of many that take place every year on the Islands, where pilot whales, as well as other whale and dolphin species are…
Read More148 more fin whales killed in waters around Iceland
The Icelandic fin whaling season has now ended with a final, grim tally of 148 whales killed since June. These hunts were the first in Icelandic waters for four years when, in 2018, 146 fin whales were killed, including at least two rare blue whale/fin whale hybrids and a dozen pregnant females. Since 2006, the company responsible…
Read MoreHundreds of whales killed as Norwegian hunt season ends
The end of the whaling season in Norway has been announced with 580 minke whales killed by 13 whaling vessels in just under six months. Norway’s minister of fisheries had set a quota (number that can be killed) of 917 whales for this season. Thankfully that number was not reached but this was still the…
Read More100 bottlenose dolphins hunted in Faroe Islands
This morning, (July 29th), 100 bottlenose dolphins were killed in Skálafjörður on the Faroe Islands. The hunt comes just weeks after the Faroe Islands government, despite both national and international outrage, allowed the killing of 500 dolphins a year. The dolphins were kept in the bay for several hours before the entire group was slaughtered. According…
Read MoreFin whales return to old feeding grounds in Southern Ocean
An exciting discovery by researchers in the waters around Antarctica suggest that fin whales are starting to return to their former feeding grounds. During the first part of the 20th century, commercial whaling decimated whale numbers in the region as whalers reduced populations to a fraction of their original figure. By the time it become…
Read MoreReview into Faroes dolphin massacre fails to ban hunts and sets high kill quota
A long-awaited review by the Faroese government into the disturbing and cruel massacre of over 1400 Atlantic white-sided dolphins in 2021 has potentially made the situation worse. The country’s Ministry of Fisheries has failed to ban the cruel hunts and, instead, proposed an annual catch limit of 500 dolphins on a provisional basis for 2022…
Read MoreIcelandic whalers kill first fin whales in four years
As feared, whale hunters in Iceland have killed at least two fin whales, the first to be killed in four years. Hopes remain that the cruel practice will end in 2023 after the country’s Fisheries Minister, Svandís Svavarsdóttir cast doubt over its future a few weeks ago, saying that there is now little justification for authorizing…
Read MoreMajority of Icelandic people think whaling harms their country’s reputation
A survey of Icelandic people has confirmed that the majority believe whaling damages Iceland’s reputation. According to the new survey conducted by Maskína for the Icelandic Nature Conservation Association, only 6.1% thought the hunts have a good effect on the country’s reputation, while only 21% consider whaling to be important for the economy. A mere…
Read MoreJapan Begins Commercial Whaling Season
Sei whale © Christopher Swann Japanese whalers have left port to begin this year’s annual hunt for whales and could kill up to 150 Bryde’s whales and 25 sei whales by the time the season finishes in mid-November. This year’s hunt is scheduled to begin on June 13th with the whaling ship Yushin Maru No.3 and its mother ship…
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