Iceland is one of only three countries that still allows commercial whale hunting, along with Norway and Japan.

It issued licenses in December to two whaling companies for 2025-2029, setting annual catches of 209 fin whales and 217 minke whales during each year's whaling season, which runs from mid-June to September.

Iceland's whalers have not hunted minke whales in recent years, saying it is not profitable.

In 2018, six minke whales were hunted and in 2021, one minke whale was hunted.

But the Tjaldtangi company said it plans to give it a try this summer.

"We'll start with one. It's one at a time," managing director Gunnar Torfason told Icelandic media Visir this week.

His ship Halldor Sigurdsson and four crew plan to hunt off the country's coast, including off of Isafjordur in northwest Iceland.

Iceland's only other active whaling company in recent years -- Hvalur, which hunts only fin whales -- said in early April that it would not hunt this year for the second straight year due to lack of profitability.

The decision to resume minke whaling has been criticised by Iceland's growing tourism industry, after the Travel Industry Association and the Icelandic Whale Watching Association recently proposed that the Isafjordur Bay be defined a whale sanctuary.

Animal rights activists also denounced the whaling plans.

"As well as being cruel and unjustified, this whaling ignores the fact that whales are worth far more to the economy alive than dead," a spokeswoman for the Humane World for Animals association, Wendy Higgins, told AFP.

Torfason said he was not concerned about the criticism or risk of protests.

"We have a very good relationship with the people in the area. I feel a lot of goodwill in Isafjordur and there is a lot of excitement among the people of the Westfjords to get minke whale meat this summer," he said.

"There are high demands on the hunt and it is crucial to keep the welfare of the animals in mind. There are very high demands made of us," he said, referring to Icelandic regulations ensuring among things that the whales are killed quickly so they don't suffer.