2013 was the year in which multi-millionaire whaling kingpin Kristján Loftsson and his company Hvalur caught, slaughtered and processed 134 endangered fin whales, one of the fastest and second-largest cetacean on the planet
These are just the tip of the iceberg in what’s been a highly productive and busy year for EIA, one in which we also played a key role in achieving a groundbreaking agreement on timber trade between the European Union and Indonesia, and kept tabs on supermarket promises to get rid of greenhouse gases in their fridges
Iceland has dodged the bullet of US trade sanctions over its belligerent hunting of endangered fin whales. However it’s not unreasonable to expect diplomatic attention will be focused on its whaling activities in the coming months. Iceland is the only country to actually expand commercial whaling in recent years
Iceland is the only country to actually expand commercial whaling in recent years, killing 273 endangered fin whales in 2009-10. More than 1,200 tonnes of fin whale meat and blubber, worth an estimated $17 million, has been shipped to Japan since 2008. Several thousand tonnes remain in Iceland, awaiting shipment