Iceland plans to submit bill to ban whaling, Norway and Japan will become the only remaining commercial whaling countries

Iceland's government has decided to submit a bill to ban whaling in February next year after years of protests from animal welfare advocates and Hollywood stars, a move that would leave Norway and Japan as the only countries in the world that still engage in commercial whaling.

According to Reuters, the Icelandic government has a majority in parliament. The Icelandic government stated on the evening of the 9th that the bill submitted next year will include a "permanent ban on whaling."

Humane World for Animals, which tracks whaling, pointed out that Iceland’s whaling season this year started in June and is expected to last until around the end of September. Iceland's approved whaling quota for this year is 150 fin whales, and as of September 9, the country has killed 80 fin whales.

A spokesman for the Humane World Animal Protection Association claimed that the bill proposed by Iceland has a considerable degree of support, and there are sufficient ethical, veterinary, legal and conservation reasons, so the association hopes that the bill will be passed smoothly.

Fin whales are the main target of Iceland's whaling industry and are listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The International Whaling Commission's catch list shows that only Iceland, Norway and Japan have carried out commercial whaling in recent years.

The international community promulgated a ban on commercial whaling in 1986 to protect the cetacean population. However, Norway and Iceland resumed commercial whaling in 1993 and 2006 respectively. Japan withdrew from the International Whaling Commission in 2019 and resumed commercial whaling activities in its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone.