Iceland kills first whales in years after restarting commercial hunt

A fin whale is seen stranded, possibly stuck on its belly. (AP Photo/Polfoto/Benny F. Nielsen, file)

REYKJAVIK, Iceland - Two whales have been killed off the coast of Iceland two days after commercial hunting resumed, ending a two-year hiatus, local media and animal rights activists reported on Monday.

Icelandic public broadcaster RUV reported that two fin whales “were killed last night,” marking the first catches since 2023.

The fin whale is the second largest animal on Earth after the blue whale.

Iceland is one of only three countries that still openly permit whaling, alongside Norway and Japan -- despite international opprobrium from the public and animal welfare organizations.

Daniel Jonsson, a manager at Hvalur, one of the country’s two remaining whaling companies, told RUV the animals would be brought ashore in the evening.

Iceland cancelled its whale hunt in 2024 and 2025, partly because economic woes had cut demand and the industry was not deemed sufficiently profitable.

On Friday, two ships set off for this year’s hunt, to the dismay of animal rights advocates.

A protester had attached himself to the mast of one of the vessels in the port of Reykjavik, but climbed down in the evening and was escorted away by police, RUV reported.

“The first fin whale deaths in Iceland’s hunt this year are devastating,” said Joanna Swabe, European senior public affairs director for animal rights group Humane World for Animals.

“Iceland has killed more than 1,000 fin whales in the past two decades -- not only the second largest animal on the planet but also a species classified as globally vulnerable to extinction,” Swabe said in a statement.

Iceland’s government has said it is planning to introduce a bill aimed at banning whaling this autumn.

Humane World for Animals said it welcomed the bill.

But it lamented the move had “not come soon enough to stop the agonising and protracted deaths of whales in Icelandic waters this summer”.

The International Whaling Commission banned the commercial killing of whales in 1986 amid alarm at the declining stock of the marine mammals.

Iceland’s Marine and Freshwater Research Institute has recommended that no more than 150 fin whales are caught in the 2026 season.

That represents a 28 per cent drop on the annual quota it recommended for the period 2018–2025, it said.

The institute has set an annual catch of 168 animals for the minke whale hunt this year, a 23 per cent drop on 2018-2025.