Sea Change

Deep North: Stories from Iceland

Last spring, journalists and activists gathered in a quiet fjord an hour’s drive north of Reykjavík. There was a small harbour, but no fishermen bringing in the day’s catch. For what these guys were fishing, they needed a bigger boat. The whaling ships of Hvalur were preparing for a season of fin whale hunting, planning to sail out and harpoon 160 animals in what was to be Iceland’s last whaling season.

There had been talk of halting the controversial practice after results from the 2022 whaling report found that current whaling methods violated Iceland’s animal welfare regulations. On June 20, just as the whaling season was about to start, Minister of Food, Agriculture, and Fisheries Svandís Svavarsdóttir instituted a temporary halt on the hunt in order to further assess the situation. At the time of writing, the future of whaling in Iceland is uncertain. Has the last whale already been harpooned, flensed, and frozen? Only time will tell.