The Sei whale is perhaps the least conspicuous of the four rourqual species that frequent Icelandic waters. Hunted actively until the international moratorium on whaling took place a reduced quota was allowed until 1989 when whaling was at least for the time being halted in Iceland. A highly migratory species the sei whales sometimes appear only in small numbers on the whaling banks, while abundant in others, this is not surprising as these banks are on the extreme northern part of their range.