OPERATION 86
Save Iceland's Fin Whales
Icelandic whaling tycoon Kristján Loftsson is preparing to resume the slaughter of endangered fin whales this summer. We are sending a ship to stop him. The fin whales cannot wait.
From The Southern Ocean
Just back from the ice. Now we sail north.
We have just returned from our first campaign in the Southern Ocean and the results were immediate. Using our strategy of aggressive nonviolence, the Captain Paul Watson Foundation successfully confronted and disrupted industrial krill fishing operations threatening one of the most fragile ecosystems on Earth.
Our crew directly intervened against massive Norwegian vessels, including the Antarctic Endurance and the Antarctic Sea, driving them away from critical feeding grounds. This bold action captured global attention and made headlines around the world.
A New Crisis
Fin Whales in Immediate Danger.
Icelandic whaling operator Kristján Loftsson is preparing to resume the slaughter of endangered fin whales this summer, reversing the prevention we have held since 2023.
Recurring Giving
Return to Sea. End Icelandic Whaling for good.
We must send a ship to Iceland immediately. Our goal is clear. As Captain Paul Watson has proven for decades, intervention works.
01
Intercept
Locate and disrupt whaling vessels before they can deploy. Deny them the seas they expect to operate in.
02
Defend
Protect fin whales in the high-seas corridor between Iceland and Greenland, the killing zone of Loftsson’s fleet.
03
End It
Take direct, non-violent action where governments have failed. Make Icelandic whaling commercially and politically impossible.
Why Your Support Matters
We are the only ones doing this.
We are the only organization that directly intervenes on the high seas to defend whales. Since 1977, Captain Paul Watson’s campaigns have shut down whaling operations across the globe, protected cetaceans in multiple oceans, and proven that direct action saves lives.
Now, we need your help to do it again.
Double
Your Impact.
Your donation today will go twice as far. Philanthropist John Paul DeJoria has committed to matching every contribution up to $1 million.
you give
$50
$100
you give
$100
$200
you give
$500
$1,000
We are preparing to deploy. We cannot do it without you. Your contribution will help fuel and equip our vessels, support our crew on the frontlines, and make this urgent mission possible.
Why Name it Operation 86?
In the summer of 1985, Captain Paul Watson arrived in Reykjavik aboard his ship Sea Shepherd II and delivered a warning to Icelandic whaling tycoon Kristján Loftsson. The Global Moratorium on Commercial Whaling would take effect the following year, in 1986. If the moratorium was violated, Captain Watson would return.
Loftsson ignored the moratorium and killed 120 fin whales in 1986. Months later, a team led by Rod Coronado carried out a mission in Iceland that sabotaged the whaling fleet. The ships Hvalur 6 and Hvalur 7 were sunk at dock in Reykjavik Harbor, and the processing facility at Hvalfjörður was heavily damaged.
Operation 86 honors both meanings: the year 1986 and the mission to 86 whaling once and for all.
1.
To "86" something
Means to eliminate it. Our mission is clear: eliminate whaling for good.
2.
The year 1986
The year the Global Moratorium on Commercial Whaling took effect. Iceland violated it. Months later, the whaling fleet was sunk at dock.
The Antagonist · Dossier
One Man Keeps Icelandic Whaling Alive.
Subject of Operation 86
Kristján Loftsson
For years, one man has kept Icelandic whaling alive.
Kristján Loftsson, CEO of Hvalur hf., is the last major commercial whaler in Iceland. While the rest of the world has moved on, while public opinion has shifted, and while economics have turned against the industry, Loftsson continues to hold onto a dying practice.
Last year, he did not go to sea because it simply wasn’t profitable.
Whaling is no longer a viable business. Demand has collapsed. Export markets are shrinking. Costs are rising. Even those within the industry know its time has passed. Yet every year he threatens to return. He still holds a license. He still has the ships. And he still has the intent. It is about legacy, stubbornness, and the refusal to let go of the past.
A DYING INDUSTRY, KEPT ALIVE BY ONE MAN
Iceland is no longer a whaling nation in practice, only on paper. The industry survives solely because of Loftsson. Without him, it ends. That is the reality.
No broad economic support. No public mandate. No future. Just one man, one company, and one final attempt to keep whaling alive.
Once again, Kristján Loftsson is threatening to resume whaling this summer — and once again, we must be ready to stand against him. We are preparing a campaign to intervene directly, traveling to Iceland to challenge his illegal whaling operations. The commercial slaughter of fin whales is a clear violation of the International Whaling Commission's global moratorium on commercial whaling.
Captain Paul Watson · Founder, CPWF
The Record
Photographs from Previous years
We Are Ready
From Antarctica to Iceland. Already on our way.
Whales are not commodities. They are ecosystem engineers — essential to ocean health, carbon capture, and marine biodiversity. Killing them for a market that no longer exists is not only unethical, it is irrational.
The world has moved forward. Operation 86 exists to make sure Iceland does too. Because this time, we end it before it begins.