Iceland resumes whaling

Icelandic Fisheries Exhibition	IceFish Conferences

The largest commercial fishing exhibition in the North.	Co-located with the Icelandic Fisheries Exhibition, the IceFish Conferences bring the seafood sector together for three days of insight, innovation and connection.
Visit the IceFish Website	Visit IceFish Conferences

By-Product Solutions	Smart, Connected Seafood Processing	Land-Based Aquaculture Technology	Greener Fishing
January-February 2026	March-April 2025	July-August 2025	November-December 2025

Cutting waste and maximising value	Robotics, analytics software and other Industry 4.0 technologies are helping to scale-up productivity	New production systems are escalating the industry’s contribution to global food security	Fisheries are becoming increasingly responsible and sustainable thanks to new technologies and initiatives
Read More	Read More	Read More	Read More

In October Iceland resumed commercial whaling, despite the moratorium still being in place.

Catch limits have been issued for the fishing year 2006/2007 which ends on 31 August 2007.

The decision involves takes of 30 minke whales and nine fin whales, during the fishing year 2006/2007. This will bring the total catches of minke whales in Icelandic waters during this fishing year to 69, including the minke whales taken in completing the research plan which Iceland has been implementing since 2003.

According to the Ministry, none of the planned catches involve endangered or threatened stocks of whales and only involve abundant stocks.

The total stock size of Central North-Atlantic minke whales is close to 70,000, of which around 43,600 are in Icelandic coastal waters. Fin whales in the Central North-Atlantic number around 25,800 animals. According to the Ministry, both of these estimates have been agreed upon by consensus by the Scientific Committees of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO).

The Ministry claims that this move is sustainable, but the international marine conservation organisation Oceana states that fin whales are in fact classified as 'endangered' and appear on the IUCN's (The World Conservation Union) Red List of Threatened Species.

The decision has angered diplomats from around the world who, in November and led by Britain's ambassador, delivered a strongly worded protest (demarche) condemning Iceland over the decision.

This followed a previous move by Fisheries Minister Ben Bradshaw who summoned Iceland's ambassador to express his grave concern over the decision to defy a worldwide ban on whaling.

The demarche, signed by 25 countries including Australia, Brazil, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Sweden, USA and the European Commission, said: “We call upon Iceland to respect the moratorium and halt its commercial whaling operations. We believe that commercial whaling quotas determined and prosecuted in the absence of any agreed management system undermines the proper functioning of the IWC.”