Iceland, one of only three countries that still allows whaling, on Thursday issued permits to two whaling companies for the next five years, until 2029, the outgoing government announced.
The decision has been criticized by animal rights activists and environmental groups, who criticize it as being taken by the ruling government.
The permits allow for the annual catch of 209 fin whales and 217 right whales during the annual whaling season, which runs from mid-June to September, said the government, which lost an election on Saturday.
Fin whales are listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Whaling permits are usually issued for five-year periods, but the last one expired in 2023. The only remaining operating vessel, the Hvalur, applied for and received license renewals every year.
Thursday’s decision was echoed in a joint statement by Iceland’s environmental organization and its youth wing.
“The will of the people is not respected and the issuing of permits abuses the climate, the environment and the welfare of animals,” they said.
The charity Whale and Dolphin Conservation has also criticized the permits.
“We are disgusted by this decision,” they said in a statement, and they also argued that it is “very unethical” for the participating government to make this decision.
The Captain Paul Watson Foundation took a similar view, condemning what it called an “appalling abuse of power”.
The founder of this foundation, Paul Watson, is currently being held by the authorities in Greenland, after being arrested in July in Nuuk, the capital of the autonomous region of Denmark.
He was arrested on a 2012 Japanese arrest warrant, accusing him of causing damage to a whaling ship in the Antarctic in 2010 and harming a whale.
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Last year, Iceland suspended whaling for two months after a government-commissioned investigation concluded that the methods used did not comply with animal welfare laws.
Tests carried out by the government’s animal husbandry department showed that hunters’ explosives cause long-term pain, their hunting took five hours after they were caught.
The shortened 2023 season, which lasted only three weeks, ended with 24 whales killed. The quota was 209 whales.
One company suspended its harpoons for good in 2020, saying that whaling was no longer profitable.
Iceland, Norway and Japan are the only countries that allow commercial whaling.
They face strong opposition from animal rights activists.
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