Bjarni Ben Grants Whaling Permits

Bjarni Benediktsson, the acting Minister for Food, Agriculture, and Fisheries, has issued whaling permits for the next five years, reports RÚV.

The permits authorise Hvalur hf. to hunt fin whales and Tjaldtangi ehf. to hunt minke whales.

The number of animals allowed to be hunted is based on advice from the Marine Research Institute, which recommends a maximum of 217 minke whales per year. No minke whales have been hunted this year, but there were 24 last year and 148 the year before.

This summer, Svandís Svavarsdóttir, the former Minister for Food, Agriculture, and Fisheries, issued a one-year whaling permit after the season was due to begin, resulting in no whaling this year.

Following the collapse of the government coalition between the Independence Party, the Left-Green Movement, and the Progressive Party, and the resignation of the Left-Green ministers, Bjarni Benediktsson, Prime Minister, has been serving as the acting Minister for Food, Agriculture, and Fisheries.

Last month, Hvalur hf. applied to the Ministry for an indefinite whaling permit.

In 2009, following the collapse of the government coalition between the Social Democrats and the Independence Party, Einar K. Guðfinnsson, the Minister for Fisheries and Agriculture, approved the resumption of whaling. Later, Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, the then Minister for Fisheries, expanded the whale protection areas in Faxaflói in November 2017 before leaving office.