Latest Whaling in Iceland Stories

LONDON, Nov. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is urging Japan's new government to recall its whaling fleet which is heading to Antarctica to cruelly hunt almost 1,000 whales. In defiance of global pressure and a number of international laws, the government of Japan's whaling fleet has left harbour and is now en route to the pristine Southern Ocean Sanctuary to harpoon up to 935 minke whales and 50 endangered fin whales. Despite a worldwide ban...

The company controlling Iceland's fin whale business should turn a profit this year, its owner said Friday. Hvalur HF caught 125 fin whales during the 2009 season. That is 25 below its quota, but many more than have been caught in the past few years, the BBC reported. Last year, the company sent about 71 tons of whale meat to Japan. This year the figure should be about 1,653, company owner Kristjan Loftsson said. He said he will carry over the remainder of his quota to next year. These...

A U.S. fisheries expert and outgoing chair of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) proposed that ending the commercial hunting ban on whales could actually benefit whale conservation efforts, BBC News reported.This year's IWC meeting saw pro- and anti-whaling nations agree to further compromise talks and deferred a decision on a controversial bid from Greenland to add humpback whales to its annual hunt.The Greenland Inuit are granted hunting quotas because they are one of the indigenous...

Environmentalists are infuriated by a Danish request for consent to continue hunting humpback whales of the coast of Greenland, the AFP accounted.Ole Samsing, Danish commissioner at the annual International Whaling Commission (IWC) conference being held on the Portuguese island of Madeira, immediately demanded a "quick solution" in light of the request."We want to put forward a proposal for a quota of 10 humpback whales per year for the 2010-2012 period" in Greenland, a...

-- With International Whaling Commission Meetings in Portugal Kicking Off, Animal Planet Gauges Americans' Knowledge of Whaling Debate -- NEW YORK, June 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Animal Planet today released the results of a national Online Zogby Interactive poll of 3,412 Americans to coincide with the 61st annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission. The survey -- commissioned by Animal Planet, the producers of WHALE WARS -- was intended to assess Americans' knowledge of and...

Whale hunters in Iceland have brought in their first big catches of the season -- two 35-ton, 65-ft.-long fin whales, the AFP news agency said on Friday.The Hvalur 9 arrived early Friday morning at the port of Akranes, 12 miles north of Reykjavik, with the whales in tow.The large mammals were quickly carved up to separate the meat from the blubber, with an inspector tasting a piece of the meat to check its quality.But the environmental group Greenpeace criticized the catch, saying Iceland...

The governments of Norway and Japan are using taxpayer money to subsidize their unprofitable whaling industries, according to a first-time analysis of the economics of whaling.Sink or Swim: The Economics of Whaling Today found that Norway and Japan provide commercial whalers with huge government subsidies"”even though killing whales is unlikely to ever be profitable without taxpayer support."In this time of global economic crisis, the use of valuable tax dollars to prop up what is...

Environmentalists made their opinions known at a key meeting on Tuesday involving plans to resume the hunting of humpback whales, which went under a moratorium protection over 40 years ago.The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) said Greenland intends to ask a summit on Monday to grant it permission to hunt 50 humpbacks over five years."Denmark is lobbying intensely, with the support of Sweden, to build a European consensus in favor of Greenland's proposal," WDCS...

BOSTON, June 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Two weeks before the annual Meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), taking place from 22nd to the 26th of June in Madeira, Portugal, European whaling nations provoke the international community with an increase of whaling quotas and granting export permits for whale meat to Japan. In response WDCS, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, calls "Europe: Whale Enemy No.1" and launches its campaign to request immediate action taken by the...

Tuesday marked the beginning of Iceland's whaling season, despite protests from animal rights groups and international calls to reduce whaling quotas, AFP reportedIceland is one of only two countries in the world that allows commercial whaling. The country's whaling season, which usually runs from May to late September, will have a set maximum quota of 100 minke whales that can be killed during that time.Gudmundur Haraldsson, one of the whalers on board the Johanna AR vessel, told AFP his...