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Iceland is preparing to permanently ban commercial whaling, potentially leaving Norway and Japan as the only countries in the world still allowing the practice.
The Icelandic government says it will submit a bill to parliament in February 2027. The proposal comes after years of controversy over the country’s whaling industry and growing public and political opposition to the hunts.
Iceland is currently the only remaining commercial whaling country in Europe. Its last active whaling company was given a five-year licence in 2024, but the government now says the existing legislation is outdated.
The change could come at an important moment for the country’s fin whales, which are classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. This year’s hunting season has so far seen 80 fin whales killed, from a quota of 150.
A government-commissioned report in 2023 also raised serious animal-welfare concerns, finding that some harpooned whales took up to two hours to die. The findings contributed to a temporary suspension of whaling that year.
Commercial whaling has been subject to an international moratorium since 1986, although Norway and Iceland continued or resumed the practice, while Japan withdrew from the International Whaling Commission in 2019.
If Iceland’s new legislation passes, commercial whaling would become even more marginal internationally — with only Norway and Japan continuing it.
It’s not the end of whaling yet, but it could be another significant step toward a world where killing whales commercially becomes a thing of the past.
