Icelandic whalers killed an endangered fin whale Saturday, breaking a 20-year moratorium on commercial whaling in the Scandinavian country.
Television images Sunday showed a 65-foot-long (20-meter-long) fin whale being towed into an Icelandic harbor. The whale was harpooned in the North Atlantic about 200 miles (320 kilometers) west of the country (map of Iceland).
Fin whales are the second largest of the great whale species, growing up to 78 feet (24 meters) long in the Northern Hemisphere and weighing up to 71 tons (64 metric tons), according the American Cetacean Society based in San Pedro, California.
Minke whales, smaller cousins to fin whales, average about 10 tons (9 metric tons). (Get whale photos, video, facts, and more.)
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) lists fin whales as an endangered species, but Iceland's Ministry of Fisheries says there are sufficient fin and minke whales in its coastal waters to support a sustainable harvest.
According to the fisheries ministry, there are an estimated 25,800 fin whales and 43,600 minke whales in the central North Atlantic.
The ministry announced on October 17 that Iceland's commercial whalers would take 9 fin whales and 30 minke whales by August 31, 2007.
The country had previously stopped whaling commercially in 1985; it ended scientific hunts four years later but resumed them in 2003.
Currently, Norway is the only other country that allows commercial whale hunts. Japan hunts whales as well under the heading of scientific research.
"Cruel and Unnecessary"
Conservationists are condemning the killing.
Joth Singh, director of wildlife and habitat protection for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, called the hunt "cruel and unnecessary."
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