By Shawn Gaynor

Jan. 30 (GNT) — The Icelandic Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture announced this week that it would be raising catch quotas for whaling over the next five years.

This endangered Finn whale, harpooned in 2006, signaled Iceland's return to whaling. Iceland announced this week a dramatic increase in whaling quotas. Photo courtesy of Greenpeace International.

The Icelandic whaling fleet will now take 150 Finn whales and 100 mink whales per year, in what Icelandic officials are calling “a continuation of sustainable whaling.”

The quotas are a dramatic increase over last year, when Icelandic whalers were authorized to catch nine Finn and 40 Minke whales.

Conservation groups have decried the move, with some calling for a boycott of Iceland’s already devastated economy over the issue.

Sara Holden of Greenpeace International called the decision a “shameless stunt that has nothing to do with use of natural resources.”

Holden said that a loss of tourism dollars will far outweigh the boost in revenue that whaling could bring. According to Greenpeace, over 100,000 tourists per year go whale watching in Iceland.

Capt. Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, whose group claimed responsibility for the 1986 sinking of two Icelandic whaling ships in Reykjavik harbor, took a harsher stance on the new quotas.

“Iceland has spat in the face of marine conservationists around the world with their extremist announcement,” said Watson.

The two whaling ships scuttled by the Sea Shepherds were never repaired, and Icelandic whaling was shut down for two decades. Iceland resumed its whaling program in 2006.

The Sea Shepherds have responded to the new rules by calling for a boycott on Iceland’s products and tourism.

According the Sea Shepherds, Jeff Skoll, the founder of E-Bay, and Hollywood Producer Bob Yari both signaled support for the boycott, informing Iceland officials that they will no longer be using Iceland to refuel their private jets en route to Europe.

The Finn Whale is listed as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, whose “red list” tracks endangered species around the world.

Iceland, Norway and Japan are the only nations who still engage in whaling.

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