Minke whale hunts to start off Iceland in days
Icelandic minke whaler, Gunnar Bergmann Jonsson, announced that minke whaling will start in the next few days.
In an Icelandic newspaper article, Gunnar Bergmann states that whilst he took his boat out for a test run around Faxaflói Bay (near Reykjavik) last week, they found few whales. He commented that although they will start the whaling season in the bay, they may well move elsewhere if the whales once more prove hard to find. Last year, the whalers complained that they had difficulty locating the whales, and the season ended with 24 minke whales killed.
Faxaflói Bay is also a major whale watching location and for several years, the whale watch community has expressed concerns that whaling activities are having a detrimental impact, not only on minke whale numbers but also affecting their behaviour – making the whales wary of all vessels.
