Dear Bjarkey,
Whilst NAMMCO and Kristján Loftsson of Hvalur hf would like the world to think that fin whales are a plentiful resource to be exploited, the opposite is true.
The world population of fin whales still sits at a miniscule 10% of the pre-commercial whaling population and is now facing increasing levels of risk from ship strikes, entanglement, ocean acidification, ocean warming and pollution. In order to fulfil their ecological role, these and other whales, need to be protected – not hunted. 
The professional council for animal welfare were clear – it is not possible to kill large whales humanely. Hvalur hf demonstrated this once again in 2024 when, despite increased regulation, whales were shot outside the permitted area and exposed to extended suffering at the time of death. This at a time when Hvalur hf must have been keen to show Icelandic authorities how well they could perform. 
The Icelandic whaling industry is not even able to show that whaling is profitable – with Hvalur hf’s losses from whaling in 2022 sufficiently large as to offset all the corporation tax due on the profits of the investment arm of the business, whilst IP-Utgerd hung up it’s harpoons years ago due to financial losses being incurred. 
With this latest application to permit hunting of minke whales in the summer of 2024, whaling will now place itself in direct competition with the profitable whale watching industry of Iceland – risking a further downturn in tourist numbers – numbers already negatively impacted by the Reykjanes situation.
The reasons to refuse a permit are numerous and I therefore ask you not to issue a new hunting license but instead to add your voice to the call for commonsense to prevail and for whaling to be banned in Iceland.