Whaling in Iceland began with spear-drift hunting as early as the 12th century, and continued in a vestigial form until the late 19th century, when other countries introduced modern commercial practices. Iceland is one of the countries that have objected to a moratorium established by the International Whaling Commission in 1986, and that still maintain a whaling fleet. One company (Hvalur hf.) remains concentrated on hunting fin whales, largely for export to Japan, while the only other one previously hunted minke whales for domestic consumption until 2020, as the meat was popular with tourists. In 2018, Hvalur hf. whalers killed a rare blue whale/fin whale hybrid.
Whaling was temporarily paused in Iceland between 2019 and 2021 as coronavirus restrictions, competition from subsidized Japanese whaling and increasing domestic whale watching tourism have hampered the industry, however the practice was resumed in June of 2022.
Iceland has a whale watching sector, which exists in tension with the whaling industry.
History
Pre-19th century whaling
Ancient literature, such as the Norse sagas, does not reveal a history of whale fisheries in Iceland but occasionally describes conflicts between various families over whale carcasses and early links between Scandinavian people and whales. For example, Vikings from Norway introduced the whaling techniques of driving small cetaceans, such as pilot whales, into fjords. Additionally, the 13th century document Konungs skuggsjá describes a number of marine mammals, including several types of whales and dolphins. A 17th-century work by Jón Guðmundsson specifically lists whales recognized today as the sperm whale, narwhal, right whale, fin whale and the blue whale. Narwhals were hunted for the spiral shaped ivory tooth, sometimes presented as a mythical unicorn's horn.
Spear-drift whaling had been practised in the North Atlantic as early as the 12th century. In open boats, hunters would strike a whale with a marked spear with the intent of later locating the beached carcass and claiming a rightful share.
Research shows that Basque whalers appeared in Iceland and set up whaling stations there at the earliest in the early 17th century. Foreign whaling fleets, in particular Basque and Dutch, did not become prominent in Icelandic waters until the 17th century. Danes did not whale here in large numbers, except briefly during the 1630s. Interactions between Basque whalers and Icelanders were mixed. Icelanders circumvented the burdensome trade monopoly of the Danish King by conducting illicit trade with foreign whalers. In what has been termed Spánverjavígin, a crew of 32 shipwrecked and stranded Basque were executed by Icelanders in 1615. In 1662, locals in Skagaströnd attributed the sudden blindness of 64 sheep to magic spells cast by French whalers on the sheep. Jón Guðmundsson condemned the local sheriff for this decision in his account of the event. Since 2005, historian Magnús Rafnsson and archaeologist Ragnar Edvardsson have been excavating the remains of a 17th-century Basque whaling station in the northwest of Iceland.
Icelanders did not engage in any large-scale whaling. According to contemporary sources, Icelanders lacked capital in the 18th century to invest in whaling, and did not have knowledge of the most effective whaling methods. Contemporary sources show that Icelanders were interested in starting whaling operations but lacked access to capital and did not have government support for innovation.
Modern whaling
Whalers from the United States and from Norway and other European nations expanded their activities into Icelandic waters with new techniques and technology in the late 19th century. In 1865, Americans Thomas Welcome Roys and C. A. Lilliendahl tested their experimental rocket harpoon design and set up a shore station in Seyðisfjörður, east Iceland. However, a slump in oil prices after the American Civil War forced their endeavor into bankruptcy in 1867. A Danish naval officer, O.C. Hammer, set up two shore stations in Iceland and used Roys' rocket harpoon design. Norwegian Svend Foyn (famous for later inventing the modern whaling harpoon) also studied the American method in Iceland.
In 1883, whaling expanded from Norwegian waters to Iceland as unrestricted catching depleted whale stocks off the coast of Norway. Svend Foyn made several attempts to profit from whaling in Iceland but was ultimately unsuccessful. In reaction to demands that Norwegians working in Iceland should become naturalized Icelandic (Danish) subjects, Foyn sold his shares to company partners and abandoned his plans for whaling in Iceland. The major shareholder, Thomas Amlie of Oslo, assumed the role of expedition manager and enjoyed great success. As a result, competing companies transferred their operations to Iceland. At the age of 82, Amlie was lost at sea with one of his whaling ships and all 32 hands in a violent 1897 storm. Amlie is considered the father of modern whaling in Iceland.
According to archeologist Ragnar Edvardsson, "both the archaeological and historical records suggest that Icelanders never participated in commercial whaling until the twentieth century... no large scale Icelandic industrial complexes have been recorded so far, and therefore, it seems that Icelanders themselves never participated in the European commercial whaling of the seventeenth to twentieth centuries" Between 1883 and 1915 ten (mostly Norwegian) whaling companies were founded, and operated 14 shore stations on the east and west coasts of Iceland. One of the most successful companies, managed by Hans Elefsen, in its best year produced a quarter of all of the whale oil in Iceland. He also used whale carcasses stripped of their blubber as raw material for a guano factory. However, in response to the decline in whale stocks, Elefsen moved his operation to South Africa in 1911.
In 1897, the Whale Industry Company of Iceland (Hval-Industri Aktieselskabet Island – also called the Icelandic Whaling Company) was established. An Icelandic merchant named A. Asgeirsson was its promoter and major stockholder but the company was heavily dependent on Norwegian personnel and equipment. After years of unsuccessful operation it went bankrupt and closed in 1913.
Blue and fin whales were primarily hunted, but humpback and sei whales were also included. However, prior to 1914 Icelanders did not hunt minke whales. Superstition held that minke whales were sent by God as protectors.
National whaling restrictions
Icelanders held mixed opinions on the whaling industry. Some welcomed the added earnings from taxes, duties and levies. Others complained that whaling ruined their herring fishery. As a result, in 1886 a May to October ban was enacted on whaling in herring fishing areas and Icelandic territorial waters. However, most whaling was done outside of the prohibited areas and went on unaffected by the limited ban.
In 1903 another whaling ban was proposed, only to be thrown out by the Althing. Later in 1913, a total ban on whaling was enacted, to start October 1, 1915. The ban was imposed in order to preserve whale stocks for Icelandic interests due to a perceived Norwegian threat.
The law was repealed in 1928, and in 1935 the government of Iceland issued a permit for one whaling station at Tálknafjörður (which later folded in 1939). A new 1935 law declared that whales in Icelandic territorial waters could only be hunted by Icelanders. In 1948, the Hvalur hf. company purchased an American naval base at Hvalfjörður (Whale Fjord) and converted it into a whaling station. Norwegian crews were involved in training Icelandic whalers into the early 1950s.
ICRW and IWC
The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling was created in 1946 in Washington, D.C. to "provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry". Based on the previous 1937 International Agreement and subsequent Protocols to that agreement in 1938 and 1945, the ICRW led to the 1949 creation of the International Whaling Commission and publishes guidelines for the international regulation of coastal and pelagic whaling. Iceland was a member of the IWC from the outset in 1949. Critics claim that the IWC and ICRW have largely failed due to a lack of enforceable rules and regulatory loopholes.
Like many other whaling nations, Icelandic whaling was inconsistent in conforming to rules established by the IWC. For example, in 1954 the IWC adopted a proposal for the total protection of blue whales, in response to concerns that localized protection was not effective. Blue whales were not to be taken in the North Atlantic for five years (from 1955 to 1959). However, Iceland objected and continued to hunt blues until 1960.
In 1956, Icelandic fishermen believed that a large population of orcas (killer whales) threatened their fisheries. After failing to clear the orcas from a series of nets, Icelanders called upon the US Air Force for assistance. As a NATO ally, the United States maintained an air base in Keflavík. The US Air Force responded with machine guns, rockets and depth charges to drive out the orcas. The Keflavík base would later become a point of diplomatic contention between the United States and Iceland due, in part, to disagreements over whaling.
Prior to 1974 minke whaling went unregulated in Iceland. National authorities set quotas and limits for Icelandic whalers, but IWC quotas were not established for North Atlantic minke whales until 1977. Before 1977, minke whales were indeed taken by fishermen from small villages, but were considered too insignificant to record catch statistics. The new IWC minke quotas were shared between Iceland, Norway and Denmark.
Between 1977 and 1983, Hvalur hf. had taken hundreds of undersized fin and sei whales and exported the meat to Japan, according to an IWC report.
Moratorium
In 1972, the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment voted 52–0 for a 10-year global moratorium on commercial whaling. However, the UN resolution was not adopted by the IWC: there were six "no" votes, four "yes" votes and four abstentions. Iceland, Japan, Russia, Norway, South Africa and Panama voted no.
In 1973, a moratorium was once again proposed but failed to obtain the required 75% majority at the IWC. (8-yes, 5-no, 1-abstain). Iceland, Japan, Russia, Norway and South Africa again voted no.
Between 1973 and 1982 the IWC's membership increased from 14 to 37 member nations, perhaps stacking the vote in favor of anti-whaling nations.
In 1980 and 1981 two more votes failed to establish a moratorium by a 75% majority.(13-9-2 and 16-8-3)
In 1982, the IWC finally voted in favor of a moratorium on commercial whaling to come into force in 1986 (25-7-5).
Unlike Norway, Iceland did not officially object to the IWC moratorium, and was therefore obliged to abide by the new restrictions. The Althing, perhaps under pressure from the US, voted 29–28 not to object.
Research whaling
By 1985, like Japan, Iceland submitted proposals to the IWC to continue whaling for research purposes under Article VIII of the ICRW. Iceland proposed a catch of up to 80 fin whales, 40 sei whales, 80 minkes and a limited experimental catch of blue and humpback whales. The research would be funded through the sale of whale meat to Japan. However, the proposal was denied by the IWC scientific committee in 1986.
In an attempt to gain acceptance of its proposals and under pressure from the United States, Iceland reduced the proposed whale meat exports from 95% to 49% of the total catch and the requested quota from 200 to 120 whales. Despite a domestic campaign to encourage Icelanders to consume more whale meat, most of the supply was used as feed on fur farms or spoiled in warehouses. In an open letter to the government, Icelandic biologists condemned the program.