Iceland's Commercial Whaling of Endangered Fin Whales

📁 Archive Document — Historical Record

This article was first published when our charity's original name/branding as 'Sea Shepherd UK' prior to our name change on 18th May 2023 following the removal of Captain Paul Watson from Sea Shepherd entities worldwide (with the exception of the UK, France and Brazil).

Captain Paul Watson remains a member of our Board, and our charity continues to uphold its founding principles of non-violent direct action marine conservation.

This article and its contents are the property of the 'Captain Paul Watson Foundation UK' and forms part of our 21 year history.

Learn more at paulwatsonfoundation.uk/new-name

Crew in Iceland have documented the slaughter of seven endangered fin whales by the commercial whaling company Hvalur hf.

The Hvalur 8 has so far returned with seven endangered fin whales from five voyages.

The Captain Paul Watson Foundation UK has had crew operating in Iceland since mid-June, watching the activities of the notorious whaling company Hvalur hf — owned by the wealthy fishing magnate and second-generation whaler Kristján Loftsson. The company owns a large whaling station on the north side of Hvalfjörður and two old Norwegian-built whaling ships, Hvalur 8 (built in 1948) and Hvalur 9 (built in 1952), which exclusively hunt endangered fin whales — the second largest animal on the planet after the blue whale.

The 2018 quota given to Hvalur hf by the Icelandic government is for a staggering 161 fin whales, plus an additional 30 carried over from the unused quota from 2017, which can be killed during a 100-day season from 10th June.

The last time Loftsson's company hunted fin whales was in 2015, when his two ships killed 155 whales. However, Loftsson and his company subsequently had issues both when exporting the meat and then within Japan (the primary market for Icelandic fin whale meat and products), with Japanese food standards test results showing excessive contaminants that prevented the sale of the whale products from the 2015 hunts. This effectively closed the door on further Icelandic fin whale imports, and his two ships sat moored in Old Reykjavik harbour from September 2015 until 19th June this year, when Hvalur 8 left Reykjavik, quickly took on equipment at the whaling station in Hvalfjörður (and was photographed by our crew), before venturing to sea on the first hunt of 2018.

Butchering of the whales at Hvalur hf's whaling station.

Hvalur 8 has so far returned with seven endangered fin whales from five voyages, each taking around 36 hours to whaling grounds within Iceland's exclusive economic zone, around 150 nautical miles from the whaling station. Since 19th June, our crew have maintained a watch of the approach into Hvalfjörður and have therefore been in place to document — with video, photos, and when possible livestreaming to social media — every return of Hvalur 8 and the butchering of the whales at Hvalur hf's whaling station.

"The whaling ship Hvalur 9 completed repairs on 27th June and was photographed heading out from Reykjavik harbour on the morning of 29th June. It will soon be whaling alongside its sister ship Hvalur 8, effectively doubling the work for our crew who have travelled to Iceland from four countries to expose this archaic commercial hunting of endangered whales."

— Robert Read, COO, Captain Paul Watson Foundation UK