Icelandic authority has dramatically increased the number of local whale fishing fleets allowed to hunt over the next five years. It is informed that the whalers will be authorized to catch at least 250 whales per year under guidelines announced by outgoing fisheries and agriculture minister Einar Gudfinnsson. These changes is seen as a boosting element to the powerful fishing industry in a country that has been brought to its knees by the economic crisis, and where public protests have forced the resignation of the government.
Fisheries and Agriculture ministry said that total allowable takes of fin and minke whales for the next five years will be according to scientific recommendations of the (Icelandic) Marine Research Institute. The institute has previously suggested that whalers should be permitted to hunt around 100 minke whales, 100 fin whales and 50 sei whales.
The decision to increase the quotas has been opposed by the coalition party. Gufinnsson’s announcement follows suggestions by International Whaling Commission officials that Japan could be authorised to resume commercial whaling off its coast, in return for killing fewer whales for scientific research in the Antarctic.
