The new campaign to shut down Icelandic commercial fin whaling by Hvalur hf.
Kristján Loftsson, one of the wealthiest and most politically influential men in Iceland, continues to ignite a storm of controversy in the North Atlantic. Most Icelanders are against killing whales. The Icelandic government is opposed to killing whales. But Kristján Loftsson is used to getting what he wants - and even though whaling makes no profit, what he wants is a new permit to kill endangered fin whales…and as things stand, Loftsson is likely to get it. Commercial whaling was outlawed in 1986 when the International Whaling Commission declared a global moratorium on whaling. Fin whales are universally protected under international conservation law.
Kristján Loftsson is confident that he will continue killing whales, and that no-one can stop him. We are confident that we can prevent him from getting what he wants. Captain Paul Watson has stopped Kristján
Loftsson before, reducing his whaling fleet by half in 1986, thereby saving hundreds of whales from slow and painful deaths from Hvalur hf’s grenade tipped harpoons.
In more recent years, Captain Paul Watson Foundation UK (formerly Sea Shepherd UK) have documented every single whale murdered by Loftsson - first with ‘Operation Mjolnir’ in 2018 and then ‘Operation Northern Exposure’ in 2022 (both at land and at sea). Those UK lead campaigns have already saved whales by gathering evidence of the cruelty of Hvalur hf’s whaling, breaches of Icelandic legislation regarding pollution / contamination, and the hunting of non-permit species (specifically rare blue / hybrid whales).
That valuable evidence continues to be used by Icelandic regulators and lawyers to obstruct whaling, most notably in 2019 before Covid restrictions then helped shut down Hvalur hf. throughout 2020 and 2021. In 2023, CPWF and CPWF UK worked together on ‘Operation Paiakan’ both on land and at sea with the foundation’s new flagship ‘John Paul Dejoria’ (formerly the Scottish Fisheries Protection vessel ‘Vigilant’).
As Captain Paul Watson sailed with his crew to Iceland, the ship was tracked by Icelandic Coastguard aircraft, and as the ship entered Iceland’s 200nm limit the Icelandic Minister for Food issued an unexpected 2 month suspension of whaling before Hvalur hf. was allowed to return to sea, killing 24 whales before the winter storms set in (25 if you include at least one pregnant whale which had her dead baby dragged from her lifeless body at the whaling station on Hvalfjörður). In two months, CPWF will once again sail into the waters off Iceland to aggressively, but nonviolently block Loftsson’s ageing harpoon ships ‘Hvalur 8’ and ‘Hvalur 9’ from our clients – the majestic fin whales. There is a merciless ruthless storm threatening fin whales in Icelandic waters, a storm of cruel explosive harpoons in the hands of a cetacean serial killing fanatic. Our job is to calm these waters down and to make the North Atlantic a safe place for whales once again.
Others justify their inaction on Icelandic whaling by saying that far more whales are killed by industrial fishing each year than by whaler’s harpoons – and indeed this is true - but it is no excuse to fail to act to end whaling. Why whaling must be ended is obvious to anyone with basic environmental awareness, compassion or common sense.
Whaling is the calculated, intentional, cruel killing of one of the planet’s most intelligent marine mammals - a key species which is proven to be critical not only to saving the ocean but ultimately all life on Earth
Robert Read. COO at CPWF
With your support, Captain Paul Watson on the CPWF flagship ‘John Paul DeJoria’ will return determined to defend the whales - supported once again by CPWF UK in Iceland from mid-June until whenever Loftsson packs away his harpoons. Time is up for the world’s most notorious killer of whales – Kristján Loftsson.
Let’s make some waves together – Show your support for ‘Neptune’s Pirates’ on our mission to once and for all end the killing of fin whales in Iceland!