Whaling in Iceland to start in a month

Whaling in Iceland will likely start in a month. The whaling mostly takes place in Faxaflói Bay, North of Reykjavik.

Gunnar Bergmann, CEO of IP-útgerð which operates the only two ships used for whaling this year, says that the meat that resulted from last year’s whaling is almost up. The meat is sold both in supermarkets and in restaurants.

The quota in Iceland is 224 minke whales, though nothing near that has been caught over the last years. In 2016, 46 minke whales were caught in Iceland. The year before only 29 were caught, which was not quite enough and meat was imported from Norway. Bergmann expects that 50 animals will be enough for the Icelandic market this year.

No whales to Japan

There will likely be no export on whale meat to Japan this year, which has been done before. The reason is simply expense, it doesn’t pay off according to the CEOs of Iceland’s two whaling companies. For this reason, Hvalur hf, Iceland’s infamous whaling company, will not set their boats to whaling this year.