[Iceland plans to permanently ban whaling; Norway and Japan may be the only remaining commercial whaling countries in the world] September 10th, according to the official website of the Icelandic government, the Icelandic government plans to submit a bill in February next year to permanently ban commercial whaling. If the bill is passed, Norway and Japan will be the only countries in the world that continue to engage in commercial whaling. International Whaling Commission (IWC) data shows that only Iceland, Norway and Japan have carried out commercial whaling in recent years. The moratorium on commercial whaling adopted by the International Whaling Commission in 1986 subsequently came into effect, but Norway resumed commercial whaling in 1993 and Iceland in 2006. Japan withdrew from the International Whaling Commission in 2019 and resumed commercial whaling in its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone. International bans allow indigenous people in Greenland, Alaska and other areas to hunt whales because whale products are of great significance to the nutritional and cultural life of local residents.