Iceland and Norway are in the company of Japan in terms of Whaling

Four days ago, the whaling season opened for Icelandic whaling operations. Authorities in Iceland granted a quota of 161 fin whales (one species of large whales) to whalers in 2018. Since they didn’t reach their quota last year they are allowed to kill as many as 191 fin whales, which are an endangered species. They consider it economically worthwhile to hunt whales because Japan has loosened up its restrictions on imports of whale meat from Iceland. This is a strange decision on Japan’s part because Japanese consumers cannot even eat all the whale meat that is the result of Japan’s whaling industry (disguised as “scientific whaling”).

Fin whales are huge whales that are much bigger than the minke whales that make up the majority of the ones Japanese whaling ships kill in the Southern Ocean. The diagram I’m attaching to this posting shows the relative size of the various species of whales, dolphins, and other Cetaceans.



The article in the Guardian reveals that it is mostly curious tourists in Iceland who eat whale meat at restaurants and only 35.4% of Icelanders said they supported the fin whale hunt in a poll taken in October of 2017.  Just like in Japan, environmental and animal rights groups in Iceland insist that the decision to kill whales isn’t based on “real market needs” and doesn’t reflect public opinion on whaling. It seems to be done just to keep a dying industry alive and for reasons of nostalgia. To kill harmless creatures for such reasons is senseless and cruel.

Boffey, D. (2018, April 18). Iceland sets target of 191 kills as country resumes whaling. Retrieved June 14, 2018, from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/18/iceland-sets-target-of-191-kills-as-country-resumes-whaling