Icelandic authorities have announced plans to kill more than 2,000 whales over a five-year period, in a move that has angered environmental groups.

Despite a declining global market for whale meat and falling public support, the government opted to remain in defiance of the international ban on whaling.

Whalers will be authorised to harpoon 209 fin whales and 217 minke whales in Icelandic waters every year until 2023.

The nation’s fisheries minister, Kristjan Thor Juliusson, said these numbers were sustainable and based on the latest scientific research.

Last summer Iceland was at the centre of controversy after reports it had killed two rare blue/fin whale hybrids and at least a dozen pregnant females.

Tragic photos show beached whales Show all 15 1 / 15 Tragic photos show beached whales Tragic photos show beached whales A dead sperm whale lies on Hunstanton beach in Norfolk on 5 February 2016 AFP/Getty Tragic photos show beached whales Volunteers pour buckets of water over the 80 remaining live pilot whales found stranded on remote Ocean Beach on New Zealand's southern-most Stewart island, 8 January 2003 AFP/Getty Tragic photos show beached whales Contractors clear away the body of one of the dead 48ft sperm whales that were washed-up on a beach near Gibraltar Point in Skegness, Lincolnshire in 2016 PA Tragic photos show beached whales People pass by a beached whale at the Pointe de la Torche, near Brest in France on 29 November 2011 AFP/Getty Tragic photos show beached whales A woman touches the tail of a large whale carcass on Wattamola Beach at the Royal National Park in Sydney on 25 September 2018 AFP/Getty Tragic photos show beached whales Beached humpback whale in California, 2015 AFP/Getty Tragic photos show beached whales Dead long fin pilot whales at Hamelin Bay on Australia's west coast on 23 March 2009 AFP/Getty Tragic photos show beached whales A 36ft sperm whale lies dead on the beach at Sutton Bridge, in The Wash, off the Lincolnshire coast, where it became stranded in 2004 PA Tragic photos show beached whales A female fin whale opens its mouth as it lies stranded and alive on the beach at Carlyon Bay, Cornwall on 13 August 2012 Getty Tragic photos show beached whales The lower jaw of a dead sperm whale that stranded itself on a beach in Hunstanton, Norfolk on 5 February 2016 Getty Tragic photos show beached whales One of the five sperm whales that were found washed ashore on beaches near Skegness, Lincolnshire over the weekend on 25 January 2016 Getty Tragic photos show beached whales Employees at work to skin the remains of a beached 60ft whale on 25 January 2013 AFP/Getty Tragic photos show beached whales Two long-finned pilot whales are stranded on a beach in the northern French city of Calais on 2 November 2015 AFP/Getty Tragic photos show beached whales A sperm whale lies dead after becoming stranded on a beach in Hunstanton, Norfolk on 5 February 2016 Getty Tragic photos show beached whales Crowds gather as a sperm whale lies dead after becoming stranded on a beach in Hunstanton, Norfolk on 5 February 2016 Getty

However, hopes that this bad press would bring an end to the practice were dashed with the latest announcement.

“The Icelandic government’s decision to continue to kill whales – amongst the most peaceful and intelligent beings on the planet – is morally repugnant as well as economically bankrupt,” said Vanessa Williams-Grey, a campaigner for the Whale and Dolphin Conservation.

Announcing its new quota, the government cited the economic benefits of whaling, as well as official figures showing populations of the once endangered fin whale were recovering.

“During the most recent count in 2015, their population in the central North Atlantic was estimated at 37,000, or triple the number from 1987,” it said in a statement.

This was supported by the recent conclusion by the International Union for Conservation of Nature that fin whale numbers were on the rise.

But given the uncertainty about global whale numbers and multiple threats facing these marine mammals, campaigners said this should not be taken as a green light for more hunting.

Authorities also pointed to recent reports, including one by an economist linked to the pro-whaling Independence Party, which found that whaling brought sizeable benefits to the Icelandic economy.

However, many in the country – including those involved in the whale tourism industry – have hit back at these claims and argued that whales are worth more alive than they are dead.

Whale watching revenue was 3.2 billion krona (£20m) in 2017, while whaling only brought in 1.7 billion krona, according to a University of Iceland report.

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Along with Norway, Iceland has continued to challenge the International Whaling Commission’s (IWC) ban on commercial whale hunting, which has been in place since 1987.

Japan has also defied these rules, although it has used a loophole that allows some whaling for scientific purposes, and at the end of 2018 the nation announced it would leave the IWC altogether.