22 Dec 2024
New research published in Science Advances reveals that right whales can survive for more than 130 years — almost twice as long as previously understood. This made them the second-longest lived mammals on Earth, after bowhead whales which could live beyond two centuries. The study examined four decades of data collected by photo identification programs tracking individual […]
17 Dec 2024
Fin whale meat from off Japan’s northern coast was sold for the first time in nearly 50 years. Japan’s Fisheries Agency this year added fin whales to its list of three whale species that can be legally hunted as the country expands commercial whaling along its coast. Japan resumed commercial whaling within its exclusive economic […]
10 Dec 2024
Animal rights and environmental groups have denounced the move by Iceland’s outgoing government to issue new permits that allow 209 fin whales and 217 minke whales to be caught during each year’s whaling season, which runs from June to September. The country is one of only three in the world that still allows whaling – […]
12 Nov 2024
Iceland’s last active whaling company, Hvalur hf., recently applied for an indefinite whale hunting licence, causing disagreement amongst the ministers in Iceland’s caretaker government over whether or not they will approve the application. While the country granted a one-year licence to Hvalur to kill more than 100 fin whales earlier this year for this hunting […]
15 Jun 2024
Iceland’s government has issued a licence to hunt whales. The licence for the 2024 hunting season allows the Hvalur company to kill 128 fin whales. The government said the company was now permitted to hunt “99 whales in the Greenland/West Iceland region and 29 whales in the East Iceland/Faroe Islands region, totalling 128 whales”. A […]
05 Sep 2023
The Icelandic government has announced that commercial whaling can resume after the activity was suspended for more than two months. Commercial hunting of fin whales can resume but with stricter requirements on hunting methods and increased supervision, the government said. In June, Svandís Svavarsdóttir, the country’s minister of food, agriculture and fisheries, postponed this year’s planned whale […]
25 Oct 2022
The UK Government upheld its long-standing opposition to commercial whaling at the 68th meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Slovenia this week, advocating to uphold the moratorium that was agreed 40 years ago. The United Kingdom also secured further support for the protection of whales, dolphins and porpoises (cetaceans) and has […]
30 Aug 2022
Saving the Whales Again: Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the International Whaling Commission’s global ban on commercial whaling and looking ahead. Lucy Babey, Head of Science and Conservation, Deputy Director, at ORCA and Chair of the Link Marine Mammals Group, reflects on the 40th anniversary of the International Whaling Commission’s global ban on commercial whaling. […]
