By Shannon Ray
Fin whales have swum the Earth’s waters for 20 million years. Second only to gargantuan blue whales, they are some of the largest animals in the world. Each individual can live for up to 140 years, observing changes in their waters from one century to the next, and passing down their knowledge to their children and grandchildren. They are gentle, shy, and solitary creatures, keeping to deep waters and breaching rarely. They were also one of the first cetacean species to be added to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s Red List of Threatened Species, where they are classed as vulnerable to extinction. And this year, in Iceland’s waters, 128 of them will be shot and killed with explosive harpoons.
Credit: Fin whale surfacing. Aqqa Rosing-Asvid – Visit Greenland, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
After centuries of slaughter that decimated some whale species’ populations by as much as 98.5%, most of the world recognised whale hunting as a needless atrocity and supported the International Whaling Commission (IWC)’s ban on commercial whaling in 1982. However, four countries have refused to heed the ban: Iceland, Norway, Greenland and Japan. Every year, these countries kill about 1,500 whales between them.
Many rejoiced that Icelandic whaling was finally on its way out when the country’s Fisheries Minister announced in 2022 that the practice was set to stop this year. The move would have made sense: Icelanders’ demand for whale meat was dwindling, a study by Iceland’s Food and Veterinary Authority found that whales were dying slow, excruciating deaths, and only 29% of Icelanders still support the outdated industry. So it was a welcome but foreseeable move when Iceland instituted a temporary ban on whaling last year after 23 fin whales were killed, including a pregnant mother who was preparing to give birth to her calf. It was assumed that the ban would become permanent.
Astonishingly, this did not happen. Against the advice of conservationists, Iceland announced that whaling would go ahead as usual in 2024 following the expiry of the temporary ban. The government claimed that measures would be implemented to ensure that fin whales suffer less agonising deaths at the hands of whalers. But as animal welfare groups pointed out, any death that involves a grenade-tipped harpoon to the head cannot be made painless. And, of course, whale populations will continue to decline as Iceland inexplicably clings to this dying industry.
And it is dying, however hard it fights: only one whaling company remains in Iceland. The whaling company Hvalur is headed by Kristján Loftsson, who, at 80, is one of the richest people in the country. An eccentric multi-millionaire, Loftsson’s wealth comes not from whaling, but from his investments in banks and IT companies. Hvalur sells 90% of its products to Japan, recognising that there is no viable market for them at home. The Icelandic government props up one rich man’s hobby against its citizens’ wishes and at the expense of dozens of animal lives each year.
Credit: Stop The Hunt, Blue Planet Society, Teemill.
The Icelandic Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries was offered a final chance to phase out whaling when Hvalur applied to renew its operating license earlier this year. Once again, the world waited to see if Iceland would end the government-sanctioned slaughter of fin whales by denying Hvalur license to operate. But on Tuesday, 11th of June, Fisheries Minister Bjarkey Olsen Gunnarsdóttir announced to the dismay of many that Iceland would renew Hvalur’s license and sanction the deaths of over a hundred fin whales.
It’s not only fin whales who are targeted by whalers. In Norway, small and inquisitive minke whales are also under attack. Norway has attempted to boost its declining whaling industry this year by increasing the number of whales it plans to kill from 1,000 to 1,157. But with only 4% of the Norwegian population regularly consuming whale meat, these deaths are unnecessary and wasteful. Even the Japanese government has refused to buy Norwegian minke whale meat on the grounds that it is toxic, contaminated by heavy metals and dangerous chemicals.
Things are even more dire in Japan, with minke whales, sei whales, and Bryde’s whales targeted by whaling ships. Unlike Iceland and Norway, Japan did not overtly slaughter whales commercially following the IWC’s ban, instead citing a scientific research provision that enabled them to continue the hunt. But in 2019, Japan abandoned all pretense and left the IWC altogether to resume commercial whaling. Last month, they launched a new mothership that will kill at least 200 whales.
Credit: Japan’s new mothership vessel Kangei Maru, via kangeimaru.org
Much the same as in Iceland and Norway, it makes little sense for Japan to ramp up its whaling efforts. Although Japan is the world’s largest market for whale meat, this is hardly a vied-for title. There is little appetite for whale meat anywhere, and even in Japan, it accounts for only 0.1% of meat consumed. Neither is whaling a significant contributor to Japan’s economy, with only 300 people of the country’s 125 million directly connected to the industry.
Hideki Tokoro, president of the whaling company Kyodo Senpaku (which launched the new mothership this spring), has claimed that whales must be ‘culled’ to stop them competing with humans for food and to keep ocean ecosystems healthy. But precisely the opposite is true: unlike most humans, whales need to eat other marine creatures to survive, and the myth that they threaten food security was debunked decades ago. In reality, whales recycle nutrients that stimulate the growth of phytoplankton. These microscopic plants feed other marine animals, remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and generate most of the world’s oxygen.
Credit: Whale meat sold at a discounted price in a supermarket in Tokyo. Syced, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
How much of a threat do Iceland’s, Norway’s, Greenland’s and Japan’s continued whaling efforts pose to the gentle giants of our seas? The sad truth is that whaling is just one of many perils making life in the oceans increasingly difficult to sustain for whales and other marine animals. Climate change is creating warmer seas and more frequent typhoons; the fishing industry kills 300,000 whales each year by entangling and drowning them in their nets; a further 20,000 whales are killed each year in ship strikes; and noise and plastic pollution are constant hazards. We must also remember that the whales who navigate these dangers daily are only a small fraction of those who once filled our seas.
Whale populations have not fully recovered from the rampant commercial whaling that decimated them before the IWC’s ban was instituted. 17 cetacean species are still listed as endangered or critically endangered, and these new and growing threats have made recovery even more difficult. The ongoing commercial whaling carried out by Iceland, Norway, Greenland and Japan is just one more battle for these whales, who are already being pushed to their limits. To lose those who remain — the last giants of our world — would be a travesty.
Why do these countries continue to hunt whales? The products like whale oil that were once used in industry have been replaced with cruelty-free alternatives, and only a small number of people — the scarce few who are involved in the industry — want to see it continue. In Iceland, whale watching tours are becoming increasingly popular as the country’s eco-tourism industry blossoms, indicating a new and more economically lucrative direction for the country — one that will be directly threatened by Hvalur’s ongoing activity. It is possible that Iceland is learning this at last. A deeper look at this week’s unwelcome announcement reveals a glimmer of hope: Hvalur’s previous license was granted for a five-year period, but its new license is for 2024 only. Will this year be Hvalur’s last?
Whaling season will last until early autumn. After knowing just a few months of peace, whales are once again being chased and harpooned by ships from Iceland, Norway, Greenland and Japan who do not need the products they make from whales’ bodies and scarcely have a market in which to sell them. By spreading the word about the cruelty these four countries inflict on whales and urging their governments to ban commercial whaling, we can work together to make 2024 the year that commercial whaling ended for good.
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