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We're at COP28 to Save the Whale, Save the World.

We’re at COP28 to save the whale, save the world

Ed Goodall Ed is WDC's head of intergovernmental engagement. He meets with world leaders to...
Gray whales from drone.

We’re taking steps to uncover the mysteries of whales

Vicki James Vicki is WDC's protected areas coordinator, she helps to create safe ocean spaces...
We must protect our non-human allies. Image: Tom Brakefield, aurore murguet, johan63

We’re urging governments to protect all of our climate heroes – CITES

Katie Hunter Katie supports WDC's engagement in intergovernmental conversations and is working to end captivity...
The Natütama Foundation are dedicated to protecting endangered river dolphins. Image: Natutama

Guardians of the Amazon: protecting the endangered river dolphins

Ali Wood Ali is WDC's education projects coordinator. She is the editor of Splash! and KIDZONE,...
Amazon river dolphins. Image: Fernando Trujillo/Fundacion Omacha

Amazon tragedy as endangered river dolphins die in hot water

Ali Wood Ali is WDC's education projects coordinator. She is the editor of Splash! and KIDZONE,...
Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin © Mike Bossley/WDC

WDC in Japan – Part 3: Restoring freedom to dolphins in South Korea

Katrin Matthes Katrin is WDC's communications and campaigns officer for policy & communication in Germany...
Wintery scene in Iceland

Seeking sanctuary – Iceland’s complex relationship with whales

Hayley Flanagan Hayley is WDC's engagement officer, specialising in creating brilliant content for our website...
Whaling ship Hvalur 8 arrives at the whaling station with two fin whales

A summer of hope and heartbreak for whales in Icelandic waters

Luke McMillan Luke is WDC's Head of hunting and captivity. Now that the 2023 whaling season...

Pitiful waste in Iceland

This is not how Saturday evenings are meant to be spent. Whilst most of Europe basks in a heatwave, I stand shivering on a remote hillside just above the Hvalur whaling station at Hvalfjörður, an hour’s drive north-east of Reykjavik. This is a starkly beautiful landscape, the fjord framed by dark hills, fulmars cackling and wheeling low over the water, all this contrasting vividly with the pitiful spectacle unfolding only metres away from my vantage point. 

In front of us, 100 metres from shore, the Hvalur 8 is moored to the landing stage, its grim work done.  At first, slight turbulence in the water below is the only sign that something is happening, but quickly the all-but submerged body of a fin whale is revealed, hauled inexorably towards the landing stage.  As the carcass continues its obscene progress up the slipway, it is clear that this is a small whale – a male and, at around 12 metres, only a juvenile at that. Fully winched, we can clearly see the gaping entry wounds from the harpoon. No time is lost, there is a flurry of activity and the flensing irons are wielded.

This bit is surreal – we move closer to stand at the perimeter fence, standing next to maybe 50 people, presumably the crew’s families, all of us scant metres from the flensing process.  Babies ride high on shoulders and children press closer to watch as this little whale is cut open, a sudden torrent of blood and entrails.

Loftsson’s crew work with ruthless efficiency and precision, hacking off the fluke and within minutes stripping back the whale’s skin as if peeling a grotesque banana. The blubber beneath is bridal white.

 Amidst the spectacle, one thought circles constantly in my mind: What a waste, what a senseless waste. This animal’s fate is almost certainly to join its comrades, languishing for years in freezers both in Iceland and Japan.

Only last week, six containers of several-year-old fin whale meat, bound for Japan, were impounded at the port of Hamburg and are now en route back to Iceland.  Whaler Kristjan Loftsson declares that the return is ‘not the end of the world’ but with reduced demand and fewer transportation options, the time has come to recognise that this is trade is dead in the water.