It seems that Fin Whales off the coast of Iceland will have at least a year’s reprieve according to this story in The Reykjavik Grapevine.
This is excellent news.
I would take with a pinch of salt the explanation given by the sole Iceland commercial whaler about the licence arriving too late, although I have no inside information on this. It sounds like a face-saving exercise to me.
Whatever the reason, it is difficult to imagine that this would have happened without the campaign run within and outside of Iceland to end whaling.
Bird Fair attendees, travel companies and this blog each played a small part in that much larger campaign.
Opportunistic killing of Minke Whales from some coastal communities in Iceland will presumably continue, so this is not a whaling-free year for Iceland but it is a step in the right direction.
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