Iceland ends Whaling!

It has recently been announced that the Iceland Fisheries Minister will no longer be issuing commercial whaling quotas. The Fisheries minister, Einar Gudfinsson stated at the end of the 2006/2007 whaling season, that as long as there was not a market for whale meat, he will not be issuing any more quotas. Coupled with this, the five year ‘scientific research hunt’ has concluded and the good news is that there are no more research permits being applied for.

The Icelandic government has been put under pressure to cease the allocation of Whaling quotas as many people believe that there are far greater benefits to be gained through the tourism industry than the fishing one. Hundreds of people go to Iceland each year in search of whales, benefiting tourism in Iceland, a far more sustainable form of income for the country. Discover the World was the first tour operator in the world to offer a whale watching holiday in Iceland’s northern town of Husavik back in 1993. We have consistently offered similar holidays throughout our history, with Iceland now considered one of the top whale watching destinations in the world. Proof of the growth in Iceland’s whale watching tourism comes directly from the Icelandic Whale Watching Association (icewhale.is) who has confirmed that during 2006; almost 90,000 people took part in whale watching activities in Iceland. This compares to just 2,200 in 1995.

Thankfully the whaling in recent years does not seem to have affected the whale sightings in Iceland, in fact this summers whale watching season has been excellent with more whales being sited than ever before.

The signs look good for a successful season again next year.

Discover the World
September 2007.