[2][3] The incident was an attempt by animal-rights activists to disrupt Iceland's whaling industry after the country circumvented a commercial ban on the practice to conduct research.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society direct-action environmentalist group wished to intervene in the whaling continued by Iceland, Norway, the Soviet Union, Japan, and the Faroe Islands.

[4] In June 1986, the plan was formulated to sabotage Iceland's whaling industry with an emphasis on causing as much economic damage as possible with the intent to act when there was no threat to human life.

[5][9] The pair stayed at a youth hostel and began covertly investigating the local whaling industry and it has been reported that they posed as tourists and took jobs at a fish factory.

[6] Prime Minister Steingrímur Hermannsson announced that Iceland was trying to find the men and criticised the police for the initial delay that allowed them to escape.

[5] Watson travelled to Iceland in 1988 to face prosecution as Sea Shepherd's leader where he was detained for 24 hours before being deported without cause.

[4] An article in The New Yorker said that it was "an act of sabotage that many conservationists believe helped turn Icelandic public opinion against the cause of saving whales".

[19] Coronado has rejected the "terrorist" label as "garbage", because beginning with the Hvalur sinkings, "he says he has always taken care that no one is physically hurt by his acts of sabotage".