The Icelandic government will introduce a bill in February 2027 to permanently ban commercial whaling. If Parliament approves the proposal, Norway and Japan will remain the only countries in the world to practice it.
The decision could put an end to a practice that has returned to the center of controversy in the summer of 2026. According to data cited by Humane World for Animalssince the start of the season in June, 80 fin whales have been killed, compared to an authorized quota of 150 specimens. The fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) is classified as a vulnerable species. For 2026, the Icelandic authorities had authorized the killing of a total of 150 fin whales and 168 minke whales.
The choice would also represent a reversal of direction compared to the decision taken in December 2024 by the interim Icelandic government, which had issued licenses valid for the period 2025-2029. The hunt for fin whales is now concentrated in the hands of Hvalur hf., a historic company led by entrepreneur Kristján Loftsson.
Who still hunts whales
The International Whaling Commission decided in 1982 on a global moratorium on commercial whaling, which came into full force in the 1985-1986 season and is still valid today. However, the so-called aboriginal subsistence hunting, practiced by some indigenous communities, including those of Greenland, Alaska and Russian Chukotka, for food and cultural needs, is regulated separately.
Norway, which had formally contested the moratorium, resumed commercial whaling in 1993. Iceland, after leaving the IWC in 1992 and rejoining it in 2002 with a reservation to the moratorium, resumed it in 2006. Japan finally left the Commission in 2019 and in the same year officially returned to commercial whaling in its waters