Commercial whaling
Commercial whaling since the moratorium by Japan, Norway and Iceland
The governments of three nations have consistently defied the moratorium on commercial whaling since its implementation in 1986. Through provisions in the Whaling Convention that permit “scientific” whaling, whaling under objection as well as whaling under reservation or as a non-member of the IWC, the whaling industries in these three countries – Iceland, Japan and Norway – have killed more than 45,000 whales between 1986 and 2025.
Iceland
Iceland, a founding member of the IWC, did not formally object to the moratorium and was thus bound by it. It continued to conduct commercial whaling after 1986 under the ‘special permit’ provision in Article VIII of the ICRW, which allows whales to be killed for scientific research. Iceland withdrew from the IWC in 1992 and stopped whaling, but rejoined 10 years later with a reservation against the moratorium. In 2006, Iceland’s whaling industry resumed commercial whaling under its contested reservation and has since killed 1,024 fin whales and 454 minke whales, exporting the majority of whale products to Japan.
In 2023, commercial whaling was temporarily suspended after a Government-commissioned investigation by the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority ruled that whaling violated Iceland’s primary animal welfare law.
No whaling has taken place in the past two years; however, in December 2024 the outgoing interim Government issued new five-year licenses, allowing for the hunting of 209 fin whales and 217 minke whales annually through to 2029. Although no whaling was conducted in 2025 due to economic reasons, Kristján Loftsson, board member and managing director of Hvalur hf, Iceland’s fin whaling company, has warned that the last whale has not been killed. The Government of Iceland is currently considering a bill to end commercial whaling.
Norway
The Norwegian Government filed an objection exempting it from the moratorium and killed 752 minke whales in 1986 and 1987. Facing possible sanctions from the United States, Norway terminated the programme but initiated a special permit whaling programme in 1988 and hunted minke whales for ‘scientific research’ until 1994. In 1993, Norwegian whalers resumed commercial whaling under the country’s objection. In total, 17,767 whales have been killed under the Norwegian whaling policy since the implementation of the moratorium.
Japan
The Japanese Government initially filed an objection and killed 5,519 minke, sperm and Bryde’s whales, but withdrew this after the United States threatened to revoke Japanese access to fishing grounds in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ). From 1987 until 2019 — when Japan left the IWC — the Government operated two large-scale special permit (‘scientific whaling’) programmes through Kyodo Senpaku, a new company formed from the assets of Japan’s largest whaling companies.
The largest programme, initially known as “Japan Research Program in the Antarctic” or JARPA, deployed a factory fleet (a mothership and up to four catcher boats) that killed 333 minke and 50 fin whales a year at its peak. JARPN, the programme in the North Pacific, originally targeted minke whales in Japan’s coastal waters, using ‘small type whaling vessels’ which operate up to 50 miles from shore and return to port daily. From 2000, this programme expanded to include an offshore hunt by the factory fleet of minke, sei, Bryde’s and (until 2013) sperm whales.
In 2014, the International Court of Justice ruled in a case brought by Australia and New Zealand that JARPA II was “not for purposes of scientific research” and therefore violated the ICRW. This forced the Japanese Government to adjust and relaunch its ‘research’ programmes in Antarctic and the North Pacific in 2015.
Between 1987 and 2019, Japan’s special permit operations killed a total of 17,637 whales. In June 2019, after its latest attempt to convince the IWC to lift the commercial whaling moratorium failed at the 67th meeting in 2018, Japan ended both research programmes and left the IWC to conduct commercial whaling outside international control.
Since this time, Japan’s commercial whaling companies have killed 546 minke whales, 1,257 Bryde’s whales, 185 sei whales and 90 fin whales, completely outside the authority and oversight of the IWC.
In May 2024, Japan’s commercial whaling company, Kyodo Senpaku, launched the Kangei Maru, a new factory ship costing 7.5 billion yen.
| Special permit whaling | Whaling under objection or reservation | Whaling outside IWC | TOTAL | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fin whale | Sperm whale | Sei whale | Bryde's whale | Minke whale | Fin whale | Sperm whale | Bryde's whale | Minke whale | Fin whale | Sei whale | Bryde's whale | Minke whale | ||
| Iceland | 292 | 70 | 200 | 1,024 | 454 | 2,040 | ||||||||
| Japan | 18 | 56 | 1,628 | 734 | 15,201 | 388 | 634 | 4,497 | 90 | 185 | 1,257 | 546 | 25,234 | |
| Norway | 289 | 17,478 | 17,767 | |||||||||||
| Total | 310 | 56 | 1,698 | 734 | 15,690 | 1,024 | 388 | 634 | 22,429 | 90 | 185 | 1,257 | 546 | 45,041 |
