This Country Is Waving Goodbye to Whaling

Great news for whales: by the year 2024, all commercial whaling in Iceland will officially cease, the Icelandic government has declared. 

Iceland has a long history of whaling dating back to the 12th century, historically defending the practice and capturing about 850 whales between the years of 2006-2018 alone. However, due to the resumption of domestic whaling in Japan and the rise of the Covid-19 pandemic, the demand for whaling in Iceland has drastically decreased in recent years with only one whale being caught since 2019.

“Why should Iceland take the risk of keeping up whaling, which has not brought any economic gain, in order to sell a product for which there is hardly any demand?” writes Svandis Svavarsdóttir, a member of Iceland’s Left Green party. 

Whale watching, rather than commercial whaling, is now the larger industry in Iceland and will have sole access to this natural resource going forward.