Norway has hunted whales in its own waters for centuries, but key technological advances, such as the exploding harpoon cannon, developed by its whalers in the 19th century, enabled the expansion of Norwegian whaling—and that of other nations—to an industrial scale over a much broader area. After World War I, in response to dwindling whale stocks and a shortfall of whale oil for its own market, some of Norway’s whalers returned to Norway’s own waters, establishing the foundation of modern Norwegian whaling in the North Atlantic. By the mid-1930s, Norway dominated the global whaling industry, taking more than half of all whales killed and producing a large share of the world’s whale oil.
Norway has hunted whales in its own waters for centuries, but key technological advances, such as the exploding harpoon cannon, developed by its whalers in the 19th century, enabled the expansion of Norwegian whaling—and that of other nations—to an industrial scale over a much broader area. After World War I, in response to dwindling whale stocks and a shortfall of whale oil for its own market, some of Norway’s whalers returned to Norway’s own waters, establishing the foundation of modern Norwegian whaling in the North Atlantic. By the mid-1930s, Norway dominated the global whaling industry, taking more than half of all whales killed and producing a large share of the world’s whale oil.
By the time the International Whaling Commission (IWC) imposed a global moratorium on commercial whaling in 1982, Norway was exporting to Japan most of the whale products from the approximately 2,000 minke whales (the smallest baleen whale in the group of whales known as rorquals) it took in the North Atlantic each year. Norway formally objected to the IWC’s moratorium decision, which means that it is not bound by it. It also “took a reservation” to the ban on international trade in whale products imposed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which means it can trade legally, but only with other CITES parties that hold reservations (Iceland and Japan) and with nonparties to the treaty (the Faroe Islands).
When the moratorium came into effect in 1986, Norway initially undertook a small-scale scientific hunt of minke whales. In 1993, however, it announced that it would resume commercial whaling under its objection. Since then, Norway has continued to whale for commercial purposes, killing many hundreds of minke whales every year—more than 17,000 in total during this span.
Japan’s whaling underwent some dramatic changes in 2019, following that nation’s departure from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) after more than six decades of membership: Japan finally ended the pretense that it was conducting “research whaling” in Antarctica and on the high seas of the North Pacific, terminating its longstanding industrial whaling operations in those
Read moreThe 2023 commercial whaling seasons ended with over 800 whales killed, yet fewer than anticipated. Norwegian whalers killed 507 minke whales, falling short of the 1,000 quota. In a shrinking Norwegian fleet, two large vessels have increasingly dominated the hunt. One, which mainly hunts for the Japanese market, was responsible for 220 whale deaths. Despite
Read moreThe start of summer 2024 signaled a fitful continuation of the commercial whaling still conducted by three nations: Iceland, Norway, and Japan. Two years ago, Iceland killed 148 fin whales, despite having no domestic market for the meat. (Its sole whaling company, Hvalur hf., relies on Japan to buy almost all the fin whales it
Read moreThis year’s commercial whaling season began in April with the first kills by Norway and Japan. Although Norway’s quota allows up to 1,406 minke whales in total to be killed by the 15 registered whaling vessels, fewer are expected to be taken. Kyodo Senpaku, Japan’s only factory ship whaling company, will kill up to 56
Read moreThe Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is calling on the United States to take Norway to task over an unexpected export of more than four metric tons of whale products to Japan. A bill of lading obtained by AWI shows that a shipment of 4,250 kg of frozen whale products from the Norwegian company, Myklebust Trading,
Read moreDocuments obtained by the Washington DC-based Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) show that Norway has begun to play a key role in Iceland’s massive exports of whale meat to Japan in defiance of international agreements. Iceland—which has shipped thousands of metric tons of whale products to Japan since resuming commercial whaling in 2006—is now sending shipments
Read moreThe Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and other animal protection and conservation organizations are calling on the Norwegian government to expand testing of all whale meat sold for human consumption and update health advisories, after a new analysis revealed the presence of contaminants that can lead to a range of harmful effects and health issues. These include developmental
Read moreJapan and Norway resumed slaughtering whales this month, while Iceland’s only fin whaling company has decided that it will not hunt this summer, citing a declining demand for whale meat products in Japan. Japan killed the first fin whale of the 2025 season today, after launching its whaling season on April 1. Kyodo Senpaku, Japan’s
Read moreDocuments obtained by the Washington, DC-based Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) reveal that a Norwegian whaling company, Lofothval, has sought permission to ship up to 22,000 pounds (10 metric tons) of whale meat to Iceland. The export request comes barely a month after the United States government raised concerns about Norway’s escalating whaling and trade in
Read moreWhale meat shipped from Norway to Japan contains levels of harmful pesticides—including aldrin, dieldrin and chlordane—that violate human health standards established by the Japanese government, according to tests conducted by the Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Over the past two years, Norway has increased exports of minke whale products, shipping more than 137 metric
Read moreA commission under the United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA) released a report yesterday confirming that Mexico’s unwillingness to enforce its own wildlife protection, trade, and fisheries laws...
In this op-ed for the Tampa Bay Times, Dr. Naomi Rose, AWI’s senior scientist in marine mammal biology, discusses the challenges in caring for orcas...
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and an international coalition of animal protection and environmental groups are calling on Yahoo! Japan and its parent company, the...
Japan and Norway resumed slaughtering whales this month, while Iceland’s only fin whaling company has decided that it will not hunt this summer, citing a...
