- Title: Iceland issues new whaling license for 2024 hunting season
- Date: 11th June 2024
- Summary: REYKJAVIK, ICELAND (JUNE 11, 2024) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE STUDIES AT UNIVERSITY OF ICELAND, KRISTIN INGVARSDOTTIR, SAYING: “In the most recent surveys, they have been quite consistently, you see a larger share of Icelanders against whaling than supporting whaling. And this is a trend that you especially see among younger
- Embargoed: 25th June 2024 16:56
- Keywords: Hvalur hf government whale whaling
- Location: REYKJAVIK AND HVALFJORDUR, ICELAND
- City: REYKJAVIK AND HVALFJORDUR, ICELAND
- Country: Iceland
- Topics: Europe,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA008977711062024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Iceland has issued a new license to its sole remaining whaling company, enabling it to continue hunting this season, the government said on Tuesday (June 11), drawing a sharp response from campaigners seeking to protect the animals.
Hvalur hf. will be permitted to hunt 99 fin whales in the Greenland and West Iceland region and another 29 in the East Iceland and Faroe Islands region this year, the fisheries ministry said in a statement.
Whaling in Iceland has sparked protests for years from animal welfare campaigners and Hollywood celebrities, including Leonardo DiCaprio.
The whaling season in Iceland lasts from mid-June to late September, with the majority of the whale meat sold to Japan.
Reuters was not immediately able to reach Hvalur hf. for comment.
Kristin Ingvarsdottir at University of Iceland who has researched trade and diplomacy between Japan and Iceland through whaling, said there may be no whaling this season given the short notice given.
Last year, the Icelandic government temporarily suspended hunting for two months after the country's Food and Veterinary Authority reported that the whales' killing time exceeded the limit set by local animal welfare laws.
Only Iceland, Norway and Japan have conducted commercial whaling in recent years, according to the International Whaling Commission's catch list.
Despite an international moratorium implemented in 1986 to protect the species from extinction, Norway resumed commercial whaling in 1993 and Iceland in 2006.
Japan withdrew from the international body in 2019 and resumed commercial whaling in its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone.
The moratorium allows indigenous peoples in certain parts of the world, like Greenland and Alaska, to hunt whales as whale products play a vital role in their nutrition and cultural life.
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