Iceland issues controversial five-year whaling permits

Iceland has issued permits to two whale hunting ships for the next five years despite welfare concerns.

Under the permits, 209 fin whales and 217 minke whales can be caught during each year's whaling season, which runs from June to September.

Animal rights and environmental groups have denounced the move by Iceland's outgoing conservative government.

But an official notice for the permits said the licences ensured "some predictability" for the industry, while limits to the number of whales that can be hunted had been set based on advice.

The country is one of only three in the world that still allow whaling - where whales are hunted for their meat, blubber and oil - along with Japan and Norway.

Only fin and minke whales are allowed to be hunted off Iceland, while other whale populations are protected.

Permits are normally delivered for five-year periods, but the previous ones expired in 2023.

The shortened 2023 season, which lasted only three weeks, ended with 24 fin whales killed. The quota was for a total of 209 whales.

In the same year, whaling was suspended in Iceland for two months after a government-commissioned inquiry concluded the methods used did not comply with animal welfare laws.

Monitoring by the government's veterinary agency showed that explosive harpoons were causing whales prolonged agony.

The Hvalur, Iceland's only remaining active whaling ship, had instead been reliant on licence renewals on an annual basis.

Iceland's environment association said the issuing of news permits "violates the interests of the climate, of nature and of the well-being of animals".

Sharon Livermore, director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare's marine conservation programmes, said: "The few wealthy whalers of the country continue to exert their influence even in the dying hours of this interim government.

"This government should simply be holding the fort, but instead it has made a highly controversial and rushed decision."

Iceland's ruling Independence Party lost out to the centre-left Social Democratic Alliance in snap elections on Saturday.

The Icelandic government notice said the total allowable catch followed advice from the Norwegian Fisheries Agency's fishing advice "which is based on sustainable use and a precautionary approach".