REYKJAVIK– The aisles in Saelkerafelagid, the supermarket section in the Kolaportid flea market, are usually bustling, with shoppers filling their carts with fresh seafood and local produce.
One section, though, is conspicuously sparse. The whale-meat section attracts only the occasional glance from the odd curious onlooker, who does not usually linger.
Mr Fridrik Armann Gudmundsson, the owner of Saelkerafelagid, said his store is one of only 10 remaining in Iceland that sell whale meat, and probably the only one in Iceland’s capital Reykjavík selling smoked whale.
Here, smoked whale meat costs 9,890 Icelandic kronur (S$97) per kilogram. One pack of sliced whale meat weighing about 100g is sold for about 1,300 Icelandic kronur.
When asked for his stand on the ethics of whale hunting, Mr Gudmundsson said it is a difficult question.
Mr Fridrik Armann Gudmundsson is the owner of Saelkerafelagid – one of Iceland’s few grocery stores that sell whale meat. He estimates that fewer than 10 stores in Iceland continue this trade.PHOTO: ELISA LIOE
“I can say from the heart that I understand, actually, that people want to stop the hunting of whales,” he said in halting English. “But then, I am actually one of the people in the older generation and I want to continue whale hunting, to stick to the old tradition.”
He argues that whales also compete with Iceland’s fishing industry for the catch it needs for food production.
Patrons at 3 Frakkar, a restaurant in Iceland famous for its unique meat, ranging from whale to puffin.PHOTO: ELISA LIOE
But changing attitudes in Iceland towards whaling are driving the debate on whether it should be banned. More fundamentally, people are asking if the catching and eating of whale meat is an Icelandic tradition that has even survived.
A 2023 Iceland Nature Conservation Association survey found that 51 per cent of Icelanders opposed whaling, up from 42 per cent four years earlier.
Consequently, the Nordic island-state, which is famous for whale-watching tourism, grapples paradoxically with the hunting of these endangered animals.
An international moratorium paused whaling in Iceland in 1986, but it was restarted in 2006. Now, it is one of only three nations, alongside Norway and Japan, that still permit commercial whaling.
The hunts require a permit and may take place only during the whaling season from June to September.
In early December, the outgoing Iceland government renewed commercial whaling permits for five years, starting in 2025. Under the new permits, only 209 fin whales and 217 minke whales may be harvested during each year’s whaling season.
However, the last minke whaling company has closed and now only fin whales – the second-largest whale species after the blue whales, which are not fished – are hunted, mainly for export to Japan, where there remains a strong appetite for such delicacies.
In 2024, Japan added a new quota of 59 fin whales, in addition to the Bryde’s, minke and sei whales that it hunts each year.
Ms Blanca Ferriz, 30, conducting a whale-watching tour. She has been in the marine life industry for the past seven years.PHOTO: ELISA LIOE
There are concerns that this quota may increase with the launch of the Kangei Maru, a new whaling mothership that will boost Japanese whaling capacity.
It could also reduce the demand for Icelandic imports. As it stands, Iceland is down to one whaling company that is still operating – Hvalur.
Established in 1948 and helmed by billionaire Kristjan Loftsson, Hvalur exports most of its catch of fin whales to Japan, while selling a portion of the meat to markets and restaurants at home.
Moves by the Left-Green party in the ruling government coalition, first to suspend whaling in 2023, and then to issue a shortened one-year licence in 2024 – right at the start of hunting season – were unlikely to continue after the governing coalition fell apart in October 2024 over various issues, including energy, foreign policy and immigration.
Caretaker Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson, a member of the Independence Party, called for elections in November, which prompted the Left-Green movement to leave the government.
Activists charge that the whaling industry is sustained by its ties to the Independence Party and the political stalemate between parties.
“It’s just a political game,” said anti-whaling activist Anahita Babaei, president of Last Whaling Station, a campaign to end commercial whaling.
Ms Babaei said ending whaling will require legislative changes to empower ministers to impose bans. “We’ve asked NGOs (non-governmental organisations), organisations and businesses directly affected by whaling to support us,” she said. “But they cannot because they don’t want to get into the political game.”
And this is despite the relatively smaller size of the whaling industry in Iceland.
Separated by a narrow road in Reykjavik’s Old Harbour, whale-hunting ships (left) are parked across whale-watching ships (right).PHOTO: ELISA LIOE
According to economist Oddgeir Agust Ottesen from the Institute of Economic Studies at the University of Iceland, Hvalur’s revenue from whaling activities in 2017 amounted to 1.7 billion Icelandic kronur.
In comparison, the total revenue of whale-watching companies in Iceland amounted to 3.2 billion Icelandic kronur in the same year. Not surprisingly, this key segment of Iceland’s tourism industry is a major opponent of whale hunting.
Marine biologist Giulia Bellon said it does not help that grey areas in international environmental laws and poor enforcement can make it hard to keep whalers in check. She cited, for instance, the regulation that the animal must be killed in the shortest time with the least suffering.
“The rules say they should die as quickly as possible, but what does that mean? A minute? 25 minutes? It’s another reason why it might be hard to prosecute the whalers,” she said.
Whale-meat sellers say eating whale is an Icelandic tradition, dating back to when it was considered “poor man’s food”.
Roast whale, one of 3 Frakkar’s top five bestsellers, is sold for 2,750 Icelandic krona (S$27).PHOTO: ELISA LIOE
But conservationists say the appetite for this tradition has long been satiated.
A 2018 Gallup poll for the International Fund for Animal Welfare found that 84 per cent of Icelanders said they had never eaten whale meat. Only 2 per cent said they ate whale meat six times or more a year.
But if locals are losing their taste for whale meat, tourists still look for this “traditional delicacy” on restaurant menus.
At 3 Frakkar in Reykjavik, roast whale meat is one of the top five best-selling entrees, costing 2,750 Icelandic kronur for a one-person portion.
Mr Stefan Ulfarsson, head chef of 3 Frakkar, said: “From the beginning, we have always had whale meat on the menu because this is an Icelandic traditional food, and, in the old days, it was the poor man’s food. It was very commonly eaten in the homes of people, but not many restaurants had it on the menu.”
He noted that whaling and tourism both bring Iceland foreign currency.
But for Mr Jonathan Rempel, director of the Whales of Iceland museum, the economic benefits of whale watching clearly far outweigh those of whaling.
“The same whales return to the same areas year after year to feed,” he said.
“If that whale could be seen by a whale-watching boat again and again, many times over in the summer and across many years, you’re making far more money from that whale by selling whale-watching tickets than you are by killing it and selling its meat.”
Mr Rempel pointed out that the Icelandic government also benefits from the fees paid by whale-watching companies.
With the museum, his goal is to inspire people to protect whales by showcasing their full majesty, which is not often glimpsed in the wild. The life-size whale models, he said, can foster a sense of responsibility towards the creatures.
A man examining an exhibit at the Whales of Iceland museum. Situated in Reykjavik, it is Europe’s largest whale museum.PHOTO: ELISA LIOE
“We want to bring people into this world and show them how beautiful whales are in their entirety so they can feel these animals are worth protecting,” said Mr Rempel. “They can then use this newfound appreciation to be part of the solution rather than the problem.”
Education, after all, is arguably more effective than activism in reducing demand for whale meat.
Ms Blanca Ferriz, a marine biologist and whale-watching guide at Special Tours, said: “You can go with a strong message on the streets, but you may not have the same effect as if you are on a whale-watching boat.
“You’re trying to touch people’s hearts.”
Elisa Lioe is a final-year communication studies student at Nanyang Technological University’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information in Singapore. This story was produced as part of the school’s Going Overseas For Advanced Reporting, or Go-Far, module.
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Publish date : 2024-12-31 13:00:00
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