Iceland says it is planning to end the slaughter of mammals from 2024 as the whale market grows.
Iceland, one of the only countries that trades whales commercially, has announced that it intends to end whale hunting by 2024 as a prerequisite for whale meat.
Importance of Icelandic whales has declined sharply since Japan – Iceland’s largest market, especially whale meat – returned to 2019 after thirteen years.
The expansion of the non-fishing coastal zone, which requires fishermen to travel farther away, also made Iceland’s hunting more expensive.
“There are few reasons to allow whale hunting beyond 2024,” Fisheries Minister Svandis Svavarsdottir, a member of the Left-Green party, wrote in the Morgunbladid newspaper.
“There is little evidence that this project has any financial benefits.”
For the past three years, Icelandic whalers have not boarded their canoes to sail north across the Atlantic Ocean despite the country’s geographical location.
Iceland, Norway, and Japan are the only countries that agree to hunt wildlife, despite criticism from wildlife activists and conservationists, concerns about animal toxins, and the declining market.
The annual Icelandic region for 2019 to 2023 allows for the hunting of 209 whales – the second largest species in the world after the blue whale and are considered endangered – with 217 minke whales, one of the smallest species.
Reduction of plague
But for the past three years, two Icelandic holders have stopped hunting for freshwater fish and one, IP-Utgerd, has hung his harpoons successfully in 2020.
Only one whale has been killed in the last three years – the Minke whale in 2021.
Some issues have made whales difficult.
The requirements for the protection of imported meat are much higher than for local exports, which makes Icelandic exports more difficult.
Social restrictions imposed to combat the coronavirus also mean that Icelandic whale breeding centers have failed to perform their duties.
In the last season of Iceland in 2018, 146 fin whales and 6 minke whales were killed.
Iceland resumed whale farming in 2003 despite the 1986 IWC suspension, which they and Norway protested.
In neighboring Norway, whalers have had similar experiences to Iceland in recent years, struggling to keep up. The number of boats participating in the search continues to decline.
In 2021, 575 whales were captured in Norway, less than half the total number, and 14 boats are still in operation.
In Iceland, instead of being like sea creatures, whales in recent years have become stars in advanced tourist attractions.
More than 360,000 whalers flocked to the North Atlantic coast from Iceland to enjoy the giant creatures in 2019, before the COVID-19 plague weakened the tourism industry.
