Iceland’s whaling season began yesterday amid continued international controversy over the practice.

To the dismay of many Icelanders as well as its Minister of Environment and Tourism, whalers were allowed to kill up to 100 minke whales and 150 fin whales annually for 2009-2012, according to Iceland’s Husavik Whale Museum.

Iceland, a member of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) continues to hunt whales. It officially objects to a 1986 moratorium that prohibits killing any whales for commercial sale.

A proposed whaling agreement, which failed to pass at the IWC meeting in June, would have set legal kill quotas for the world’s only three whaling nations, Iceland, Norway, and Japan. It also would have eliminated categories that distinguish between types of whaling—commercial, research, aboriginal substance—and just call it whaling.

The package, negotiated by politicians, needed consensus among IWC members, to go through, but it hit an impasse amid allegations of corruption, including vote buying by Japan, and has now been postponed until next year.

How Much Decline?

The issue of whale population decline, since whale populations are difficult to track, has been contested for the past six years among IWC members.

“Scientists disagree about the current abundance [of whales]. There is no agreement within the IWC,” explains Scott Baker, associate professor in the Cetacean Biology Fisheries & Wildlife Department at Oregon State University. Baker was part of the IWC scientific committee, which meets separately from the commission.

Population data is still posted with a disclaimer on the IWC website, saying there are 750,000 minke whale. Ten years ago, scientists agreed on this figure, however new data presented by Japan six years ago could indicate that the population might be as little as half or one-third that size, depending who is doing the analyzing.

“It seems to me unlikely that the population has really changed by a half or three fold because we have no independent evidence to suggest that. That would have to be the result of some sort of a pretty massive mortality and there is no evidence to suggest that,” says Baker.

The conservation issues surrounding whale hunting are equally complex. Hunting by Japan, Norway, Iceland, and aboriginal subsistence hunters around the world, alone are not responsible for declining whale populations. Whale stocks are also depleted in Pacific Ocean regions because of illegal and accidental by-catch as fishermen catch other sea life.

Iceland’s whaling debate

Whaling company executive Kristjan Loftsson is the force that is keeping whaling legal in Iceland. Loftsson said regarding Iceland’s bid for European Union membership, “I am very skeptical that Iceland will join the European Union in the near future,” reported AFP.

The whale hunt issue has been a major sticking point in Iceland’s bid to join the EU.
“I would not be surprised if whale hunting has to be stopped,” said Loftsson.

Iceland’s whale commissioner, Tomas H. Heidar says that whaling is an economic gain for the country, a claim contested by animal welfare groups.

Patrick Ramage, Global Whale Program Director with the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said that the whale-watching eco tourism market is far more profitable than whaling. The Whale and Dolphin Conservation society said the whale-watching market grew in Iceland from 2,200 people in 1995, to 104,300 in 2007.

Iceland Follows Own Whale Hunt Quota After Whaling Commission Talks Break Down