Whaling Transparency

Hard To Port has run its signature investigative Whaling Transparency campaign in Iceland since 2015. Our goal is to shed light on commercial whaling operations in Iceland that largely take place out of public view. Long described as an “invisible industry,” commercial whalers had avoided meaningful scrutiny of their practices for decades. Hard To Port set out to challenge this secrecy by investigating and documenting whaling activities, and by raising public awareness through critical media work.

A few years into the campaign, its findings helped reshape the national conversation about whaling in Iceland – permanently.

The early years

In 2015, a small team from our young organisation – including members of the leadership, a lawyer, a veterinarian, and a filmmaker – set out to raise awareness about the imminent fin whale hunting season. Our work combined land-based photo and video documentation with peaceful protest actions, and that summer our efforts appeared on the front page of Iceland’s largest newspaper. The campaign was accompanied by the production company Blackrabbit Images, whose documentary 184 portrayed our work and was released the following year. The film premiered in Reykjavík and went on to screen in several German cities in the spring of 2016. This visibility strengthened our profile and enabled our organisation to significantly expand its activities in the years that followed.

No fin whale hunts took place in Iceland in 2016 and 2017. During this period, we redirected our focus toward opposing the hunt for smaller baleen minke whales within Icelandic coastal waters. In 2017, members of Hard To Port staged a peaceful 46-hour protest outside the Ministry of Fisheries. In the final hours of the demonstration, Minister Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir visited our protest site, underscoring the growing public and political attention surrounding the issue.

The scandal before the scandal

Despite recurring international protests, Hvalur hf., the only company hunting fin whales in Iceland, prepared their vessels and whaling station for an active summer hunt in 2018.

In our fourth year of campaigning, Hard To Port was joined on the ground by additional observers from a UK-based conservation group, who adopted our approach in documenting the landing of fin whales in Hvalfjörður.

In early July, and again in mid-August, our team exposed the accidental killing of two rare hybrid whales – crossbreeds of fin and blue whales. The discovery of whale #22 became a major scandal both in Iceland and internationally. Icelandic experts from the Marine and Freshwater Research Institute conducted genetic testing in response to mounting concerns over the potential killing of a protected blue whale.

With support from international conservation partners, we generated significant media attention on this tragedy. For several days, the global spotlight focused on Iceland’s commercial whaling program, and Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir was publicly questioned about the incident during a NATO meeting.

Whaling Transparency at last

The whaling cannons fell silent during the COVID-19 pandemic, and no fin whaling took place until the summer of 2022.

Once again, our team prepared for another season of thorough investigation and meticulous documentation. If whaling was to continue, the world needed to know.

It did not take long for several apparent violations of animal welfare standards to come to light. Hard To Port exposed numerous incidents involving malfunctioning whaling equipment and other irregularities, with our press releases frequently picked up by Icelandic media.

Through our persistent efforts, a historic turning point was reached when the Minister of Food, Fisheries and Agriculture, Svandís Svavarsdóttir, announced far-reaching changes to whaling regulations, including the introduction of mandatory video documentation of whale hunts at sea. Responsibility for this task was assigned to the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority and the Directorate of Fisheries (Fiskistofa).

Reflecting on this milestone, an Icelandic journalist remarked, “It is because of your work, that the Government is waking up.”

With government-backed surveillance of whaling operations now in place, one of our key campaign goals had been achieved. The “invisible industry” had finally lost its cover.

In the following year, 2023, a damning report based on the onboard documentation was released. Local initiatives further strengthened our collective efforts by mobilising an impressive opposition movement. Artists, celebrities, scientists, and politicians joined the cause, and the call for a permanent end to this archaic and ethically indefensible practice grew noticeably louder.

Despite attempts to revise and improve operations the following year – the first whaling season after the publication of the so-called “MAST report on fin whaling” – the responsible Ministry imposed a temporary ban on fin whaling.

To be continued…

Updates on our ongoing Whaling Transparency campaign are published regularly. For the latest news, please also follow our social media channels on Instagram, Facebook, and BlueSky.