Iceland is preparing to write a historic page for the protection of marine biodiversity, finally including in the program of the 2026-2027 parliamentary session a bill aimed at introducing a permanent ban on whaling. The announcement, confirmed by the executive at the instigation of Industry Minister Hanna Katrín Friðriksson, aims to radically reform the law dating back to 1949.
The regulatory text, whose filing is scheduled for February 2027, will analyze in detail the current legal framework and the complex constitutional issues related to freedom of enterprise and property rights. This courageous move brings Reykjavík closer to the goal of definitively shelving an anachronistic practice, leaving Norway and Japan alone in the panorama of global commercial hunting of large cetaceans.
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The harsh reality of the massacre and the international protests
The decision to move on comes after years of heavy complaints about the cruel methods of hunting. In 2023, an official report from the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority documented how 41% of hunted cetaceans suffer unprecedented suffering, taking on average over 11 minutes – with dramatic peaks of two hours – before dying due to explosive head harpoons. Despite an authorized quota of 150 specimens, the current season has already seen the killing of 80 fin whales, a species classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The recent recovery of fetuses extracted from mothers’ bodies and not counted in the official quotas contributes to worsening the picture. Faced with this massacre, organizations such as Humane World for Animals and personalities of the caliber of Wendy Higgins and IFAW with Sharon Livermore have reiterated the urgent need to stop an industrial activity without real internal market outlets, given that meat is consumed by less than 2% of Icelanders and proposed almost exclusively as a tourist factor to millions of visitors.
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Towards the definitive goal of 2029
Despite the enormous international enthusiasm aroused by the news, the road to a total stop will still take time. The only whaling company remaining active in the country, Hvalur, holds regular hunting permits valid until 2029. Experts and activists highlight that, even in the presence of a rapid approval of the parliamentary ban, it will probably be necessary to wait for the natural expiration of the commercial licenses to see the harpoons definitively withdrawn, putting an end to a painful chapter in Icelandic maritime history.
