Iceland's whaling companies will not carry out ANY hunting this summer for a second straight year, partly due to coronavirus

  • IP-Utgerd said it was no longer profitable and would hang up harpoons for good
  • Hunt had become too expensive after a no-fishing coastal zone was extended 
  • Hvalur postponed hunt due to social distancing measures at processing plants 
  • Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19

Iceland's two whaling companies will skip the whale hunt this summer for the second straight year, in part due to coronavirus.

One firm, IP-Utgerd, said it was no longer profitable and it would hang up its harpoons for good, while Hvalur postponed this summer's hunt due to social distancing measures in force at its meat processing plants.

The restrictions in force to tackle Covid-19 make harvesting the whale meat in Icelandic factories difficult. 

Icelandic whaling is limited to the summer months. The announcement means no whales will be hunted off the subarctic coasts of Iceland for the second year in a row.

A large minke whale unloaded at Kushiro Port in Japan on the first day commercial whaling resumed, July, 2019

A large minke whale unloaded at Kushiro Port in Japan on the first day commercial whaling resumed, July, 2019

IP-Utgerd, which specialises in hunting minke whales, told AFP it was no longer financially viable to hunt for whales in Icelandic waters.

'I'm never going to hunt whales again, I'm stopping for good,' managing director Gunnar Bergmann Jonsson said.

The hunt had become too expensive after a no-fishing coastal zone was extended, requiring whalers to go even further offshore, he said.

Meanwhile, Hvalur, which hunts fin whales, the biggest species after the blue whale, said it was cancelling the season due to export woes and, to a lesser degree, restrictions linked to the new coronavirus.

Hvalur's chief executive Kristjan Loftsson told daily Morgunbladid the decision was mainly due to stiff competition with Japan, the main market for whale meat consumption and where commercial whaling resumed in 2019.

Pictured: The grim reality - a large harpoon canon used by the likes of IP-Utgerd and Hvalur for hunting whales

Pictured: The grim reality - a large harpoon canon used by the likes of IP-Utgerd and Hvalur for hunting whales 

Loftsson said food safety requirements for imported meat were more stringent than for local products, rendering Icelandic exports more difficult.

In addition, he said Icelandic whale meat processing plants would have trouble carrying out their tasks due to social distancing restrictions implemented by authorities to combat the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2018, the last year Iceland's whalers went out, a total of 146 fin whales and six minke whales were harpooned.

Iceland resumed commercial whaling in 2003 despite the International Whaling Commission's (IWC) 1986 moratorium, which it had opposed.

Improved air quality: unforeseen benefits to coronavirus 

Lockdown measures affecting the travel industry and traffic has been shown to have had a positive impact, reducing deadly air pollution around the world.

Major cities with the worst pollution have, in some cases, seen reductions of harmful particulates, known as PM 2.5, by up to 60 percent, according to new research.

PM 2.5 is inhaled and poses a serious risk to the lungs and bloodstream.

Seven out of ten cities analysed by tech company IQAir during the lockdown have seen dramatic improvements in air quality. Some of those include New Delhi, Seoul, Wuhan and Mumbai.

According to the World Health Organisation, air pollution globally kills seven million people every year.

While experts expect air pollution to rise when economies restart, IQAir's marketing specialist Kelsey Duska said: 'out of these extraordinary circumstances, we can see how changes in our society's activities can have a momentous impact on our environment and the air we breathe.' 

The India Gate war memorial on October 17, 2019 (top) and after air pollution levels fell during a nationwide lockdown (bottom)

The India Gate war memorial on October 17, 2019 (top) and after air pollution levels fell during a nationwide lockdown (bottom)

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