Iceland: Last Whaler Threatens to Complain if Hunting Is Prohibited
Hvalur took 93 fin whales this season and is left with about 1,000 tonnes of unsold meat as Iceland weighs a ban on commercial whaling.
- Whaling magnate Kristján Loftsson will skip this weekend's International Whaling Commission meeting in Hobart, dispatching his son, Loftur Kristjánsson, in his place as Iceland moves to legislate an end to the practice.
- Iceland's ruling coalition plans to introduce a bill in February that would terminate commercial whaling, leaving Norway and Japan isolated as the only nations still conducting hunts despite the international moratorium.
- Hvalur, which operates two vessels, caught 93 fin whales this year against a quota of 150, struggling to sell the harvest due to what Loftsson describes as Japanese market "discrimination."
- With about 1,000 tonnes of whale meat sitting in cold storage, Loftsson plans to manufacture iron supplement tablets for "pregnant women and women of childbearing age" by next season.
- Marine program director Sharon Livermore with the International Fund for Nature expects the Hobart conference to showcase whale-watching tourism growth, potentially marking a historical turning point as Loftsson continues his one-man mission.
12 Articles
12 Articles
Sydney Morning Herald
Why Iceland’s last whaler says the industry should not be banned
Kristján Loftsson served as lookout in his father’s whaling fleet as a young man. He says killing whales for meat is no different to killing cows or kangaroos.
Reformatorisch Dagblad
The director of Iceland's last active whaling company is taking the government to court if it introduces a ban on whaling. The Icelandic government intends to introduce a bill in February 2027 that could potentially ban whaling in the country.
The Icelandic government plans to introduce a bill in February 2027 that could put an end to the practice on this island of the North Atlantic. Iceland is, together with Japan and Norway, one of the few countries still to allow commercial whaling. In an interview with the AFP on Tuesday, the managing director of the Hvalur company (which means "baleine" in Icelandic), Kristján Loftsson, assured that he would bring a legal action if a ban was ado…
The Icelandic government will introduce a bill next February to ban whaling, Reuters reported. Iceland, Norway and Japan are the only countries in the world where commercial whaling is legal, but the practice has long drawn protests from animal rights activists and movie stars on the European island.
Kristján Loftsson, CEO of Hval hf, says he plans to take tough action to ban whaling. He says he doesn't think the Icelandic government will dare to enforce the ban, and taxpayers will pay the price for the litigation.
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