Why the whale hunt continues

The Food Chain

Only three countries still hunt whales commercially. They do it despite little demand for whale meat and sometimes fierce international condemnation. So why do they continue?

Emily Thomas finds out why Norway, Japan and Iceland still kill whales for their meat and discovers that tradition, culture and a strong sense of national identity can outweigh all of these factors.

She hears why aggressive international pressure, particularly from environmental or animal welfare NGOs, can backfire, and speaks to the man behind a campaign that may have helped end commercial whaling in one of these countries for good.

Producers: Simon Tulett and Sarah Stolarz

(Picture: A captured minke whale is lifted by a crane at a port in Kushiro, Japan, in July 2019. Credit: Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/BBC)

Contributors:

JohnJo Devlin, BBC reporter; Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen, Norway’s Minister of Fisheries and Seafood; Michal Kolmaš, assistant professor of Asian studies and international relations at the Metropolitan University in Prague; Sigursteinn Másson, journalist and anti-whaling campaigner