Featured Image Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Getty Images/GLENN NICHOLLS
Topics: World News, Animals
Poppy Bilderbeck
Topics: World News, Animals
Warning: This article contains graphic images of whale hunting which some readers may find distressing.
Iceland's Minister of Food and Agriculture has issued fishing permits allowing people to hunt fin and minke whales for five years.
The Minister of Food and Agriculture received four applications for the fishing of the two types of whale.
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And it has since been revealed in an update issued on December 5 that it's granted the permits 'in accordance with the provisions of Act No. 26/1949 on whaling'.
The license for fin whales was given to the largest Icelandic commercial whaling company, Hvalur hf, and the license for minke whales was given to a trawler owned by Tjaldtangi ehf.
The 'fishing permit' does what it says on the tin really, allowing the companies involved to take to the seas and hunt and kill whales.
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Although, the Minister of Food and Agriculture notes the permits do come with a series of conditions which must be adhered to.
The government of Iceland's website states it's issued the permits based on assessments by the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Council (NAMMCO).
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It argues a 2017 stock assessment found the number of fin whales has 'been increasing steadily around Iceland since the start of whale counts in 1987'.
"The number in the last count (2015) was the highest since counts began. The best adjusted estimate for the entire count area of Iceland and the Faroe Islands in 2015 was 40,788 fin whales, of which 33,497 were in the East Greenland-Iceland stock area," it adds.
The assessments subsequently advise on the maximum amount of whales allowed to be caught during the 2018-2025 period, the NAMMCO stating it shouldn't 'exceed 161 animals in the East Greenland/West Iceland fishing area and a maximum of 48 fin whales in the East Iceland/Faroe Islands area'.
And for minke whales?
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Well, The Marine Research Institute 'also recommends that the annual catch of minke whales in the years 2018–2025 should not exceed 217 animals'.
"In 2018, six minke whales were caught off Iceland and in 2021, one minke whale was caught. No minke whales were caught in 2024, in 2022, 148 animals were caught after a three-year fishing break, and 24 animals were caught in 2023," it adds.
Altogether, this means up to 426 whales are allowed to be caught every year for the next five years.
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The release argues: "The management of the exploitation of living marine resources in Iceland is under strict constraints and the total allowable catch of fin whales and minke whales shall follow the fisheries advice of the Marine Research Institute based on sustainable exploitation and the precautionary approach."
It notes 'only fin whales and minke whales are permitted to be hunted off Iceland, while other whale populations are protected'.
The website says that the licenses are granted for five years, adding: "The licenses are extended annually by one year and up to 20% of each year's fishing quota may be carried over to the following year."
However, the move has been met with fierce backlash from animal conservationist groups.
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Director of Marine Conservation Programmes at the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Sharon Livermore, said in a statement to IFLScience that Iceland has subsequently issued 'a license to kill'.
She continued: "The few wealthy whalers of the country continue to exert their influence even in the dying hours of this interim government.
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"This government should simply be holding the fort, but instead it has made a highly controversial and rushed decision – a five-year license for both fin and minke whales is a disaster for whales and a disaster for conservation."
Drawing on studies showing that 'whaling is inherently cruel,' Livermore resolved: "There is simply no ethical way to kill a whale at sea."