Waitrose and M&S have hit out over Iceland’s decision to ramp up its whaling quota.

The two supermarkets have written to the Icelandic government to protest over their stance, in which the struggling country voted last month to increase its whaling quota more than sixfold, The Guardian reports.

Waitrose, which sources all its cod and haddock from Icelandic companies, is also understood to have demanded its Icelandic fish suppliers have no contacts with local whalers.

In a veiled warning, Waitrose told Icelandic fisheries minister Steingrimur Sigfusson that if the decision was not reversed it could have ramifications for the country’s exporters.

"We told them of the difficult decisions we could have to make if the decision was not reversed," Waitrose specialist fish buyer Jeremy Langley told the paper.

Iceland controversially re-started commercial whaling in 2006, despite an international moratorium to protect the species.

Under the new quotas, Iceland’s government voted to increase the whaling quota to 100 minke and 150 fin whales this year, up from 38 minke and no fin whales in 2008.

The Grocer 25/2/09