A total of 137 fin whales have been hunted this season, and the hunting of minke whales will continue through part of autumn.
MBL reports that the season for hunting fin whales has come to a close this year. Gunnlaugur F. Gunnlaugsson, the plant manager of the whale processing station in Hvalfjörður, told reporters that the hunting has gone “decently well”.
Gunnlaugur added that the last whaling ship went out to sea yesterday and managed to land two fin whales. From this, he told reporters, he concludes “there are enough [fin whales]” in Iceland waters.
Despite Gunnlaugur’s estimate, the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) has classified the fin whale as “in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant proportion of its range”.
More recently, 35 nations submitted a démarche to the Icelandic government, imploring the nation to cease the hunting of fin whales. Minister of Fisheries Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson has insisted that Iceland whales sustainably.
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