Minke Whale Hunting An Industry In Decline

More than half the minke whale hunting companies in Iceland have either quit the business or gone bankrupt since 2007.

Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson, in response to a formal question posed to him by Left-Green alternate MP Rósa Björk Brynjólfsdóttir, has shed new light on the current state of the domestic whaling industry, Vísir reports.

Of the 11 minke whale hunting companies which were in business in 2007, two of them have gone bankrupt, and an additional four have stopped the practice.

Since 2007, some 335 minke whales have been hunted in Faxaflói Bay, where whale watching tours are also conducted. This has sparked harsh criticism from whale watching companies, who contend that whaling so close to where people go whale watching is bad for business.

This new data comes in the wake of recent news that Hvalur hf., the only whaling company in Iceland that hunts fin whales, will not be hunting any this summer.