According to reports, Icelandic whalers have killed a protected blue whale. Although the Icelandic government is saying that it’s a “hybrid of a fin whale and a blue whale,” nearly every expert who sees the photos seems to agree that it is indeed a blue whale, and DNA testing is underway. The species has been protected for decades.

Back in the first half of the 1900s, blue whales were very nearly hunted out of existence by commercial whaling outfits. They’re thought to be the largest animal that’s ever lived on earth. Their hearts can weigh as much as an elephant, and under the right conditions, it’s believed that they can hear each other up to 1,000 miles away.

They were hunted mercilessly until 1966 when the International Whaling Commission decided that they should probably try and get the blue whales to stick around for a while longer. The Commission granted them protected status, and everyone agreed to quit killing them for lamp oil and soap or whatever. Populations, however, have been extraordinarily slow to bounce back, and it’s estimated that there are only around 20,000 left. Although they occasionally die after a run in with a ship, the last time anyone got caught deliberately killing one was in 1978.

It’s a strange situation for whalers in Iceland. Whaling, of course, has long been a part of Icelandic culture. Although there is an internationally recognized moratorium on killing whales of any kind, Iceland doesn’t abide by some of the rules. They’re one of only a few countries that still have an actual whaling fleet. For the most part, they hunt fin whales and minke whales, both of which Iceland says aren’t threatened. The idea that the animal in question is a hybrid allows the whaling company to say they simply made a mistake—an option which, one would assume, is far more preferable than admitting to killing a protected blue whale.


“If this is a blue whale, it would be illegal and a breach and there could be fines and perhaps the company might lose their license to hunt whales,” Arne Feuerhahn told the BBC. Feuerhahn is part of the group that documented the killing known as Hard to Port, a German non-profit that is “dedicated to..ending the commercial whale hunt in Iceland.”

Despite Iceland’s denial, most experts agree on the species. “From the photos, it has all the characteristics of a blue whale,” Dr. Phillip Clapham, from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Alaska Fisheries Science Centre, said in a statement. “Given that, notably the coloration pattern, there is almost no possibility that an experienced observer would have misidentified it as anything else at sea.”

The whaling company, as is to be expected, is quickly dismissing the expert claims. “I am absolutely confident that it’s a hybrid,” said Kristján Loftsson, CEO of Hvalur hf, the company that owns the vessel. “To mistake a blue whale for a fin whale is impossible. This whale has all the characterizations of a fin whale. There are a lot of blue whales off the Iceland coast. When we see the blows and sail to it, and we realize it is a blue..we leave it and go and look for fin whales.”