On a quiet summer evening last month, the crew of the Northern Expedition spotted a dark shape surfacing from the water off Canada’s west coast. Earlier that day, crew on the passenger ferry had made a similar sighting, and only narrowly avoided striking the humpback whale by ordering the ferry’s powerful engines to be reversed. […]
Tag: Fin Whales
Iceland canceled its 2023 whale hunt. Now it’s time to stop whaling for good
In June, we celebrated Iceland’s decision to suspend its 2023 whale hunt. Iceland’s own Food and Veterinary Authority published a report on the fin whale hunt concluding that the time it took to kill the animals exceeded the maximum time permissible under the Icelandic Animal Welfare Act. Footage documented by the Authority showed whales struggling […]
Iceland Temporarily Suspends Fin Whale Hunting
Iceland’s government recently announced that it’s temporarily suspending the hunting of fin whales. This step was taken in light of a report from Iceland’s Food and Veterinary Authority, highlighting concerns about the protracted duration of the killing process, deemed in violation of the country’s animal welfare laws. Fin whales, known for their impressive size reaching […]
Fin Whales Dying in Agony After Being Harpooned With Multiple Grenades
Whales are dying in agony after being harpooned with grenades that don’t immediately kill them and fail to explode inside of them. Icelandic whalers have long used grenade harpoons skewers to kill whales and according to experts, whalers use the weapons on an “alarming” number of fin whales before they drag them to shore, where […]
Iceland will stop whaling in 2024 because of public outrage and dwindling demand
Iceland has announced that it would stop whaling in 2024 due to diminishing demand and ongoing controversy. “There are few arguments to approve whale hunting beyond 2024,” when present quotas expire, said Svands Svavarsdóttir, Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture, in an op-ed published in Friday’s Morgunblai newspaper. The minister stated that it was “undisputed” that […]
Seeing 1,000 glorious fin whales back from near extinction is a rare glimmer of hope
Good news doesn’t get any more in-your-face than this. One thousand fin whales, one of the world’s biggest animals, were seen last week swimming in the same seas in which they were driven to near-extinction last century due to whaling. It’s like humans never happened. This vast assembly was spread over a five-mile-wide area between […]
2 Whales Killed By Visiting Naval Destroyer
Two whales were found lodged in a naval destroyer in California, CNN reported. The naval destroyer was visiting from Australia. While it’s rare to have ships strike whales, it shows the amount of traffic that happens along the busy Pacific Coast. “The Navy takes marine mammal safety seriously and is disheartened this incident occurred,” a […]
POLL: Should Iceland be sanctioned for approving the killing of hundreds of whales?
Iceland’s being condemned for recently approving the killing of hundreds whales over the next five years. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) banned commercial whaling in 1986, but like Japan, Iceland continued to use the scientific whaling loophole. After leaving the IWC in the 1990s in protest and returning in 2002, Iceland resumed scientific whaling in […]