Animal rights activists denounce Icelandic whaling plans

REYKJAVIK: An Icelandic whaling company plans to hunt minke whales this summer in a first for the country since 2021, a decision denounced on Thursday by animal rights activists.

Iceland is one of only three countries that still allows commercial whale hunting, along with Norway and Japan. It issued licenses in December to two whaling companies for 2025-2029, setting annual catches of 209 fin whales and 217 minke whales during each year´s whaling season, which runs from mid-June to September.

Iceland´s whalers have not hunted minke whales in recent years, saying it is not profitable. In 2018, six minke whales were hunted and in 2021, one minke whale was hunted.

“We´ll start with one. It´s one at a time,” managing director Gunnar Torfason told Icelandic media Visir this week. His ship Halldor Sigurdsson and four crew plan to hunt off the country´s coast, including off of Isafjordur in northwest Iceland.