Icelandic whalers kill blue whale, say activists, first in 40 years



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Hvalur hf killed and shot a blue whale last Saturday at their whaling station in Hvalfjordur, Iceland, according to Sea Shepherd, an anti-whaling organization

. examine his carcass. CNN reached out to Hvalur for confirmation of the massacre but has not yet received a response.

Reaching 30 meters long and weighing up to 200 tons, blue whales are internationally protected and rarely hunted. Even countries that practice whaling, such as Japan and Norway, usually hunt other species than blue whales.

Photos taken by Sea Shepherd volunteers monitoring the Hvalur hf station show enough details to identify the species. Pack, researcher and professor of biology at the University of Hawaii in Hilo
  A blue whale at the Hvalur hf whale hunting station in Hvalfjordur, Iceland.

"In my opinion, it seems like it's probably a blue whale – (look at) how the dorsal fin is hung, the pectoral fins pointed, and the size Mr. Pack said:

Although there has been speculation that the photographed whale could be a blue / fin whale hybrid, Pack pointed out that she does not have the distinctive coloration of the white lips characteristic of fin whales.In addition, the mottling on the side of the whale, an identifier similar to fingerprints, resembles that of a blue whale, he said

Hunting for near-extinction

Whaling is a particularly severe blow because of the scarcity and protection status of blue whales.

Blue whales have been protected by the International Whaling Commission since years born 1960, after decades of "wild fishing". "
According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), blue whales were almost wiped out by whaling fleets before regulation was made, and a staggering 360,000 blue whales were killed at the time. 20th century in Antarctic waters only
  A blue whale can grow up to 30 meters long and weigh up to 200 tons.

The regulations may have avoided extinction, but blue whales are far from being restored, with an estimated world population of 10,000 to 25,000.

Although supported by these new protections, Pack takes them with a grain of salt.

"The CBI is only as good as the nations that Have subscribed, "he said." There are nations like Japan that Hunt minke whales despite pressure from the United States and other countries. It is not necessarily surprising that nationals of countries like Iceland are engaged in whaling. " 19659011] revealed that the country had killed 122 female minke whales in the name of scientific research over a period of three months.

"From the research point of view, all we need to learn about these whales can be drawn from a non-lethal point approach," said Pack. "Killing an animal for research purposes is a thin case, but killing blue whales for food is also a rather poor argument, since there are alternatives. "

" We are now in 2018, "he added. There is no reason to hunt cetaceans, including whales. "

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect the fact that 40 years have elapsed since the last deliberate capture of the last blue whale

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