Iceland aims to kill 191 endangered fin whales this year as it resumes controversial hunt

Icelandic whaling company Hvalur said Tuesday it would resume its controversial hunt of endangered fin whales after a two-year suspension, sparking angry protests from animal rights activists.

The only company in Iceland that hunts fin whales, Hvalur packed away its harpoons in 2016 because of commercial difficulties in Japan, its biggest market, where consumption has been in decline.

Tokyo also introduced restrictive import regulations, notably new standards to measure levels of chemical pollutant PCB in whale meat.

“We are going to resume commercial whaling because the Japanese bureaucracy seems to have loosened up and the Japanese authorities have listened to us,” Hvalur chief executive Kristjan Loftsson said.

In addition, Hvalur said it plans to collaborate with researchers from the University of Iceland to develop medicinal products made of whale meat aimed at combating iron deficiency – a condition that affects almost 30 per cent of the global population, or two billion people, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Iceland’s whaling season opens on June 10. It has granted its whalers a 2018 quota of 161 fin whales, compared to 150 in 2017. In addition, Hvalur is entitled to use 20 per cent of its unused quota from last year, which means it will be allowed to hunt 30 additional fin whales.

In 2015, during the last hunt, Hvalur killed a record 155 fin whales.