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 […]
Tag: Fin Whales
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 […]
In Iceland You Can Watch Rare Whales by Day and Eat Whales (Rare) by Night
The harpoon had clearly done its job: All around its tip the fin whale’s flesh and organs were shredded, turned into a bloody pulp. “It was a good shot,” says Kristjan Loftsson, pointing to the gaping cavity. The grenade-tipped weapon was embedded deep inside the 60-foot mammal. The violence of the impact meant that – […]
Iceland’s fin whales are endangered. Stop this bloody cull
Last night, Hvalur 8 and 9, two whaling vessels owned by millionaire entrepreneur Kristjan Loftsson, left Reykjavik harbour in Iceland, bound on a north-westerly course for the open Atlantic. Hvalur 8 was last logged at 64 degrees latitude, 23 degrees longitude before it went out of range of commercially available data. Together with its sister […]
Japanese firm stops selling endangered whale pet treats
A Japanese firm has stopped selling luxury pet food made from endangered fin whales, following a campaign by conservation groups. Michinoku Farm, based in Saitama prefecture, north of Tokyo, had advertised jerky-like snacks for dogs made from North Atlantic fin whales imported from Iceland. The treats were removed from its website hours after protests from […]
Humpback whales creating stir off Ireland
The mammals have been creating a stir off Baltimore in west Cork in the Irish Republic for the last two weeks as they feed on shoals of sprat and herring. There are five animals in the humpback group and they have been getting a lot of attention, with reports in Ireland’s national newspapers and segments […]