Iceland’s Minister of Fisheries Svandís Svavarsdóttir hasn’t made herself popular with either side in the ongoing and increasingly bitter controversy over the country’s fin whale hunt, pursued by whaling company Hvalur hf and its two remaining whaling vessels. now the newly-re-licensed fin whale hunt has been delayed as protestors have occupied the crow’s nest of both whaling vessels, refusing to leave.
At the end of last month the Minister announced that the temporary ban on the whale hunt would be lifted on 1st September. This suspension followed a report earlier in the year that criticised methods used in the hunt, highlighting the conditions and the suffering experienced by the harpooned whales.
The Minister has been harshly criticised by the pro-whaling lobby in Iceland, not least as the season provides well-paid seasonal employment in the region around the town of Akranes.
Now the Minister has also come under fire from the anti-whaling lobby both at home and abroad for re-licensing the fin whale hunt with around a month of the season to go, albeit with some strict conditions applied to equipment used, procedures and observation.
Although the whaling vessels were free to sail on 1st September, both remained alongside due to adverse weather conditions – and now that the weather has improved, protestors have occupied the crow’s nests of both whaling vessels, refusing to leave.
Emergency services have been at the quayside in Reykjavík where the two vessels are tied up, but police have been unable to persuade the two protestors to climb down. Alongside the police and emergency services being present through the day, the media also has its cameras trained on the crow’s nests of Hvalur 8 and Hvalur 9.
There is every likelihood that this could be the last season for Iceland’s fin whale hunt. Hvalur hf’s licence runs out this year and the Ministry is under no obligation to renew it once it comes to an end.
