Reuters reported on September 10 that the Icelandic government will present a bill banning whaling to parliament in February next year. If the bill is passed, only Norway and Japan will remain in the world to continue commercial whaling.
For years, Iceland‘s whaling activities have provoked protests from animal welfare organizations and Hollywood stars.
The Icelandic government, which currently holds a majority in parliament, said later on Wednesday on its website that the bill would include a “permanent ban on whaling.”
This year‘s whaling season lasted from June until about the end of September. According to data from Humane World for Animals, an animal welfare organization that tracks whaling numbers, as of September 9, 80 fin whales had been killed this year.
Iceland‘s whaling quota this year allows the killing of 150 fin whales.
Humane World for Animals spokesperson Wendy Higgins said:
“This bill banning commercial whaling has received considerable political and public support. There are compelling reasons, both from an ethical, veterinary, legal, and species-preservation perspective, for us to hope it will pass.”
Whales are the main target of Iceland‘s whaling industry. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) currently classifies whales as a Vulnerable species.
In 2024, the Icelandic Conservation Government issued a five-year whaling license to the country’s only remaining whaling company.
According to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) records, only Iceland, Norway, and Japan have continued commercial whaling in recent years.
Although an international commercial whaling ban to protect whale populations came into effect in 1986, Norway resumed commercial whaling in 1993, and Iceland resumed commercial whaling in 2006.
Japan withdrew from the International Whaling Commission in 2019 and resumed commercial whaling within its territorial waters and Exclusive Economic Zone.
However, this commercial whaling ban allows indigenous peoples in parts of the world, such as Greenland and Alaska, to continue whaling, because whale products play an important role in the nutritional intake and cultural life of the local inhabitants.