Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-t5pn6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T02:23:12.101Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

8 - Iceland and the resumption of whaling

An empirical study of the attitudes of international tourists and whale-watch tour operators

from Part II - Human dimensions of whale-watching

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 April 2014

By
Tommy D. Andersson ,
Susanna E. Gothall  and
Béatrice D. Wende
Edited by
James Higham ,
Lars Bejder  and
Rob Williams
Tommy D. Andersson
Affiliation:
University of Gothenburg
Susanna E. Gothall
Affiliation:
University of Gothenburg
Béatrice D. Wende
Affiliation:
University of Gothenburg
James Higham
Affiliation:
University of Otago, New Zealand
Lars Bejder
Affiliation:
Murdoch University, Western Australia
Rob Williams
Affiliation:
University of St Andrews, Scotland
Get access

Summary

This chapter investigates how the resumption of Icelandic whaling has impacted the whale-watching tourism industry in Iceland viewed both from a demand side and a supply side. The impact on international tourists and domestic whale-watching tour operators’ attitudes were subjects of a case study from Iceland in 2007. After an introduction to Icelandic whale-watching and the Icelandic whaling situation, the results of this case study are presented. In the concluding section the development of whale-watching tourism in Iceland from 1995 to 2009 is viewed and analysed through these two perspectives.

Whaling versus the whale-watching tourism industry

For a number of reasons, the coexistence of whaling and whale-watching has been described as incompatible (Hoyt & Hvenegaard, 2002). Removal of whales and disturbances or changes to their regular activities are direct effects of whaling. Whaling will thus reduce the number of existing whales for whale-watching at the same time as it can cause avoidance responses to boats in several ways, such as increases in dive intervals (Baker et al., 1988; MacGibbon, 1991; Janik & Thompson, 1996) and changes in movement and direction (Edds & MacFarlane, 1987; Salvado et al., 1992; Bejder et al., 1999; Nowacek et al., 2001) which are caused by the presence and navigation of vessels on the water in proximity to animals (Constantine, 2001). Other potential implications of the coexistence are negative attitudes towards the destination image by whale-watchers as well as other tourists. There are, however, some proponents of the Icelandic resumption of commercial whaling who say that it is possible for commercial whaling and whale-watching to coexist and that money can be gained from both whaling and whale-watching (e.g. Moyle & Evans, 2001 cited in Parsons & Rawles, 2003). In Iceland and Norway, the whale-watching industry exists side by side with the whaling industry.

Type
Chapter
Information
Whale-watching
Sustainable Tourism and Ecological Management
 , pp. 95 - 109
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Altherr, S. (2003). Iceland's whaling comeback preparations for the resumption of whaling. Pro Wildlife. Retrieved from: (access-ed 14 September 2007).
Arctic Experience (2007). Whale-watching in Iceland. Iceland whale-watching. Retrieved from: (accessed 10 September 2007).
Baker, C.S., Perry, A. & Vequist, G. (1988). Humpback whales of Glacier Bay, Alaska. Whalewatcher Fall, 13–17.
Bejder, L., Dawson, S.M. & Harraway, J.A. (1999). Responses by Hector's dolphins to boats and swimmers in Porpoise Bay, New Zealand. Marine Mammal Science 15(3), 738–750.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Black, R. (2006). Iceland begins commercial whaling. BBC, 17 October 2006. Retrieved from: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6059564.stm (accessed 28 November 2007).
CBS News (2003). Whale of a debate in Iceland. Retrieved from: (accessed 11 October 2007).
Conlin, J. (2006). The resumption of whaling hurts Icelandic tourism. New York Times, 12 November 2006. Retrieved from: (accessed 4 September 2007).
Constantine, R. (2001). Increased avoidance of swimmers by wild bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) due to long-term exposure to swim-with-dolphin tourism. Marine Mammal Science 17(4), 689–702.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edds, P.L. & MacFarlane, J.A.F. (1987). Occurrence and general behaviour of balaenopterid cetaceans summering in the Saint Lawrence Estuary, Canada. Canadian Journal of Zoology 65, 1363–1376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
EU Business (2009). EU membership will kill whale hunting in Iceland: CEO Retrieved from: (accessed 8 August 2009).
Fisher, S. (2007). Whale-watching in Iceland. Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. Retrieved from: (accessed 14 September 2007).
Forsaetisraduneyti (2007). Prime Minister's Office. Re-trieved from: (accessed 12 October 2007).
Gudmundsson, S. (2007). Managing director at Gentle Giants, whale-watching tour company. Telephone interview, 7 November 2007.
Helgason, J.G. (2007). Comparison of two companies in tourism in Northern Iceland – Case studies of innovation systems. The Icelandic Tourism Centre, Háskólinn á Akureyri.
Higham, J.E.S. & Lusseau, D. (2007). Urgent need for empirical research into whaling and whale-watching. Conservation Biology 21(2), 554–558.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
High North Alliance (2004). Whale-watching – Recipe for economic disaster. Retrieved from: (accessed 12 October 2007).
Hoyt, E. & Hvenegaard, G.T. (2002). A review of whale-watching and whaling with applications for the Caribbean. Coastal Management 30(4), 381–399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Icelandic Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture (2009). Press Release from The Icelandic Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture on Whaling, 18 February. Retrieved from: (accessed 8 August 2010).
Iceland Review Online (30 March, 2010). New report says whaling is beneficial for Iceland. Retrieved from: (accessed 21 July 2010).
IFAW (2003). A new threat at the IWC. Our Shared World. A quarterly publication. Retrieved from: (accessed 4 September 2007).
IFAW (2006). Icelanders believe whaling damages tourism. Press releases. Retrieved from: (accessed 5 January 2008).
IWC (2001). Are whalers welcome at the IWC? The International Harpoon. No 1, 23 July 2001, London. Retrieved from: (accessed 14 October 2007).
IWC (2006). Total whales killed in whaling operations since the IWC Whaling Moratorium went into effect. Retrieved from: (accessed 17 September 2007).
Janik, V.M. & Thompson, P.M. (1996). Changes in surfacing patterns of bottlenose dolphins in response to boat traffic. Marine Mammal Science 12, 597–602.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacGibbon, J. (1991). Responses of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) to commercial whale watching boats off the coast of Kaikoura. Unpublished Report to the Department of Conservation. Christchurch, New Zealand: University of Canterbury.
Mattsson, B.M. (25 July, 2010). Det är Johannas tid på Island. Göteborgs-Posten 152(197), 18.Google Scholar
Nowacek, S.M., Wells, R.S. & Solow, A.R. (2001). Short-term effects of boat traffic on bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, in Sarasota Bay, Florida. Marine Mammal Science 17(4), 673–688.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parsons, E.C.M. & Rawles, C. (2003). The resumption of whaling by Iceland and the potential negative impact in the Icelandic whale-watching market. Current Issues in Tourism 6(5), 444–448.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salvado, C.A.M., Kleiber, P. & Dizon, A.E. (1992). Optimal course by dolphins for detection avoidance. Fishery Bulletin 90, 417–420.Google Scholar
Siglaugsson, P. (2005). The whale meat market – study on current and possible markets and cost of operations in minke whaling. GJ Financial Consulting June 2005. Retrieved from: (accessed 28 November 2007).
Sigursveinson, V. (2007). Operating director at Elding Whale-watching, whale-watching tour company. Telephone interview, 7 November 2007.
Sjóferdir Snorra EHF (2007). Sjóferdir Snorra EHF, whale-watching tour operator. Self-administrated questionnaire, 5 November 2007.
Steuer, K. (2005). Scientific whaling in the 21st century. A report by WWF June 2005. WWF for a living planet. Science, profit and politics. World Wide Fund for Nature. Gland. Switzerland. Retrieved from: (accessed 14 September 2007).Google Scholar
Valdemarsdottír, R. (2007). Representative of Seatours, whale-watching tour company. Telephone interview, 7 November 2007.
Williams, N. (2006). Iceland shunned over whale hunting. Current Biology 16(23), 975–976.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×