Protester tries unsuccessfully to stop voyage as whaling resumes in Iceland

A lone anti-whaling protester who climbed into the crow's nest of a whaling vessel in Iceland says he "broke down" when he realised he was going out to sea.

One of Iceland's two remaining whaling ships set out this week to hunt the giant mammals after a two-year hiatus, local media and campaigners reported.

Iceland is one of only three countries that still openly permit whaling, alongside Norway and Japan, despite international opprobrium from the public and animal welfare organisations.

An unexpected journey

Protester Hólmsteinn Harðarson chained himself to the mast of the Hval 9 before it left the port of Reykjavík on Friday.

Mr Harðarson spent more than two hours in the crow's nest before the vessel set sail, Icelandic digital news site Vísir reported.

He said he did not believe it would go all the way to Hvalfjörður (Whale Fjord).

"I believed that we would possibly just take a little detour and turn around, but that didn't happen," Mr Harðarson said, adding he broke down when he realised what was happening.

"I'm very grateful to the crew for how they reacted when I broke down.

"I felt so bad, I started crying."

After a journey of more than three hours, the ship arrived at the pier in Hvalfjörður and the crew could be seen with Mr Harðarson, Vísir reported.

After he came down from the crow's nest, Mr Harðarson was escorted away by police.

"I hope whaling stops. I hope people stop consuming animals and animal products, that's my hope," he said.

Activists 'disheartened'

In 2023, environmentalists were hopeful Iceland had seen the end of whaling, with a majority of citizens in favour of dropping the practice.

"It is so disheartening to see Iceland's whaling boat leave port to begin another season of whale slaughter despite overwhelming evidence that there is no humane way to kill a whale," Joanna Swabe of the Humane World for Animals said after a second vessel headed out to sea.

"These ocean giants will very likely endure an agonising death for meat that virtually no-one in Iceland wants to eat."

Iceland cancelled its whale hunt in 2024 and 2025, partly because economic woes had cut demand and the industry was not deemed sufficiently profitable.

The International Whaling Commission banned the commercial killing of whales in 1986 amid alarm at the declining stock of the marine mammals.

Iceland and Norway are the only two countries still openly practising commercial whaling in defiance of the moratorium.

Japan hunts the ocean giants for what it claims are "scientific" purposes, even though most of the meat ends up in the market for consumption.

Iceland's Marine and Freshwater Research Institute has recommended a reduction in the number of whales harpooned this season, which runs from mid-June to mid-September.

The 2026 annual number of fin whales killed should not exceed 150 animals, a 28 per cent drop on the recommended annual catch for the period 2018–2025, it said.

The fin whale is the second-largest animal on Earth after the blue whale.

The Institute set an annual quota of 168 animals for the minke whale hunt this year, a 23 per cent reduction.

The government is due to table a bill on banning whaling altogether within months.

AFP/ABC