Whale meat. Credit score: Shutterstock, Chris Christophersen
Iceland’s solely energetic whaling firm, Hvalur hf., won’t be working this summer time, marking the second consecutive yr and not using a looking season.
Based on experiences, the corporate cited ongoing world financial pressures and declining demand for whale meat as the primary causes for the cancellation.
CEO Kristján Loftsson advised Icelandic media: “As we see the state of affairs, Hvalur hf. sees no different choice than to remain in dock and await higher instances, however the state of affairs might be reviewed subsequent yr.” Talking to Euronews, he additionally defined that “the product worth developments in our predominant market, Japan, have been unfavourable just lately and are getting worse. The worth of our merchandise is now so low that it’s not justifiable to hunt.”
Hvalur had held a allow to hunt 200 fin whales this season, however no whales have been caught by the corporate since 2022. Final yr, a allow was issued simply at some point earlier than the season started, which Loftsson mentioned “made it unattainable for the corporate to correctly plan and execute their operations.”
Public and political backlash over whaling
Public help for industrial whaling in Iceland has been falling for years. A 2024 ballot performed by Maskína for the Iceland Nature Conservation Affiliation discovered that extra Icelanders consider whaling harms the nation’s picture overseas than helps it, cited by Evrim Ağacı.
Environmentalists and animal rights teams have welcomed the newest cancellation. Wendy Higgins, director of Humane World for Animals, mentioned: “If true, this season’s whaling cancellation will spare the struggling and loss of life of numerous sentient whales for a brutal and pointless hunt that continues with out ethical or scientific justification. It’s time that Iceland’s whaling ship stopped turning the ocean crimson as soon as and for all. It’s time for a complete ban on industrial whaling” (Cited by Evrim Ağacı).
Regardless of this, in December 2024, then-Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson granted Hvalur a whaling licence.
Iceland, together with Norway and Japan, is one in all solely three nations the place industrial whaling stays authorized. Nevertheless, the trade is clearly in decline. Iceland’s second-largest whaling firm, IP-Utgerd, shut down in 2020 after demand for whale meat collapsed through the Covid-19 pandemic.
Interpol suspends Paul Watson’s arrest warrant
On April 9, Kyodo Information reported that Interpol has suspended a world arrest warrant for Paul Watson, the founding father of anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd. Watson, who’s at the moment dwelling in France, had been wished by Japanese authorities for allegedly interfering with their analysis whaling actions in 2010.
A remaining choice on the warrant’s standing is anticipated round June. The 74-year-old activist was beforehand detained in Greenland, however Danish authorities rejected Japan’s extradition request.
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