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Agence France-Presse

Iceland’s government said it was suspending this year’s whale hunt until the end of August due to animal welfare concerns, likely bringing the controversial practice to a historic end.
Animal rights groups and environmentalists hailed the decision, with the Humane Society International calling it “a major milestone in compassionate whale conservation”.
“I have taken the decision to suspend whaling” until August 31, Food Minister Svandis Svavarsdottir said in a statement on Tuesday, after a government-commissioned report concluded the hunt does not comply with Iceland’s Animal Welfare Act.
Recent monitoring by Iceland’s Food and Veterinary Authority on the fin whale hunt found that the killing of the animals took too long based on the main objectives of the Animal Welfare Act.

Shocking video clips broadcast by the veterinary authority showed a whale’s agony as it was hunted for five hours.
“If the government and licensees cannot guarantee welfare requirements, these activities do not have a future,” the minister said.
Roger Payne, scientist who discovered whales can sing, dies at 88
The country has only one remaining whaling company, Hvalur, and its licence to hunt fin whales expires in 2023.
Another company hung up its harpoons for good in 2020, saying it was no longer profitable.
Iceland’s whaling season runs from mid-June to mid-September, and it is doubtful Hvalur would head out to sea that late in the season.
Annual quotas authorise the killing of 209 fin whales – the second-longest marine mammal after the blue whale – and 217 minke whales, one of the smallest species.
But catches have fallen drastically in recent years due to a dwindling market for whale meat.
Iceland, Norway and Japan are the only countries in the world that have continued whale hunting in the face of fierce criticism from environmentalists and animal rights’ defenders.

“There is no humane way to kill a whale at sea, and so we urge the minister to make this a permanent ban,” the Humane Society International’s executive director for Europe, Ruud Tombrock, said.
“Whales already face so many serious threats in the oceans from pollution, climate change, entanglement in fish nets and ship strikes, that ending cruel commercial whaling is the only ethical conclusion.”
Robert Read, head of Sea Shepherd UK, said the decision was also “a huge blow” to other whaling nations.
Why a new Japanese whaling ship is good news for animal welfare campaigners
“If whaling can’t be done humanely here … it can’t be done humanely anywhere.”
“Whales are architects for the ocean. They help boost biodiversity, they help fight climate change by affecting the carbon cycling process,” he added.
Opposition to whaling has been on the rise in Iceland with a majority now in favour of dropping the practice.
A survey published in early June indicated that 51 per cent of Icelanders were opposed to the hunt and 29 per cent in favour, with over-60s those most in favour.
Iceland has depended heavily on fishing and whaling for centuries.
But in the past two decades its tourism industry, including whale watching tours, has blossomed – and the two key sectors of the economy have diverging interests.
Japan, by far the biggest market for whale meat, resumed commercial whaling in 2019 after a three-decade hiatus, drastically reducing the need for imports from Iceland.


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Animals

Iceland suspends whale hunting over animal welfare concerns

Opposition to whaling has been on the rise in Iceland. File photo: AFP

The carcass of a Fin whale near a processing plant in Hvalfjordur, Iceland. File photo: Reuters

 A Blue whale awaiting slaughter in Hvalfjordur, Iceland in 2018. File photo: Sea Shepherd Global via AFP

Roger Payne, scientist who discovered whales can sing, dies at 88

Roger Payne is seen on board Ocean Alliance’s research vessel RV Odyssey in 2002, during the Voyage of the Odyssey, a groundbreaking toxicology study circumnavigating the globe. Photo: AP

Why a new Japanese whaling ship is good news for animal welfare campaigners

A minke whale is unloaded from a vessel at a port in the Hokkaido city of Kushiro, northern Japan. Photo: Kyodo

Sweets packaging featuring whale are displayed at a roadside store named WA-O! in Minamiboso, east of Tokyo, Japan June 14, 2019. Picture taken June 14, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato

Workers pour sake on a captured Minke whale after it was unloaded in Kushiro, Hokkaido Prefecture on July 1, 2019. - Japan began its first commercial whale hunts in more than three decades on July 1, brushing aside outrage over its resumption of a practice that conservationists say is cruel and outdated. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)

Japanese whalers insist hunting is ‘way of life’ and welcome controversial withdrawal from international treaty

Fishermen dissecting a Baird’s beaked whale at WADA port in Minamiboso. Photo: AFP

This picture taken on January 17, 2019 shows workers for Japanese whaling company Gaibo Hogei sunning sliced raw whale meat on the company's roof in Minamiboso, Chiba Prefecture. - Japan sparked outrage in December 2018 when it decided to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission, saying it would return to commercial whaling as part of its cultural heritage. Rarely is that heritage more in evidence that in Minamiboso, a town on the Pacific coast some 70 kilometres (40 miles) south of Tokyo, that is home to Gaibo Hogei, one of a handful of remaining local whaling companies. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)

This picture taken on July 12, 2004 shows fishermen dissecting a Baird's beaked whale at Wada port in Minamiboso, Chiba Prefecture. - Japan sparked outrage in December 2018 when it decided to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission, saying it would return to commercial whaling as part of its cultural heritage. Rarely is that heritage more in evidence that in Minamiboso, a town on the Pacific coast some 70 kilometres (40 miles) south of Tokyo, that is home to Gaibo Hogei, one of a handful of remaining local whaling companies. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)

News

World

Suspension follows report by Iceland’s food and veterinary authority showed that killing whales took longer than allowed by law
Iceland, along with Norway and Japan, is one of a handful of countries that still allow commercial whale hunting


Animal rights groups and environmentalists hailed the decision, with the Humane Society International calling it ‘a major milestone in compassionate whale conservation’.


Conservation

Iceland

Environment

Iceland suspends whale hunting over animal welfare concerns

Suspension follows report by Iceland’s food and veterinary authority showed that killing whales took longer than allowed by law Iceland, along with Norway and Japan, is one of a handful of countries that still allow commercial whale hunting

Suspension follows report by Iceland’s food and veterinary authority showed that killing whales took longer than allowed by law

Iceland, along with Norway and Japan, is one of a handful of countries that still allow commercial whale hunting