Iceland resumes commercial whaling
19/05/2008 18:08:29
May 2008. Despite announcing in 2007 that no further whaling permits would be issued while there was little market for whale meat, the Icelandic government is believed to have issued permits for the slaughter of 40 minke whales and whalers are expected to begin the hunt on 20th May 2008. This contrasts with the announcement last year that they were suspending whaling as o market exists for the meat (see below).
Iceland's decision to resume commercial whaling risks damage to the country's economy and its international reputation, The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has warned.
Robbie Marsland, Director of IFAW UK, said: "We strongly urge the Icelandic government to rethink this decision. The resumption of commercial whaling could prove to be extremely damaging to the already fragile Icelandic economy, and its international reputation. When Iceland killed seven endangered fin whales for commercial use in 2006, the move was met with unprecedented public outcry and the meat went straight into frozen storage with no markets found for it.
First whale killed
May 21, 2008 - Iceland's whalers say they have killed their first whale of the 2008 season. Icelandic media is reporting that whalers have killed a 7.4-metre male minke whale. The whale, said to have been caught last night in Faxafloi Bay near Reykjavik, is expected to be brought ashore later today.
"By contrast, whale watching offers a humane and profitable alternative, with more than 100,000 people going whale watching in Iceland last year. We encourage the Icelandic government to act now to protect this multi-million pound industry and its wider economic interests."
Gallup polling carried out in Iceland in 2006 revealed that only 1.1% of Icelanders claim to eat whale meat once a week or more, while 82.4% of 16 to 24-year-olds never eat whale meat.
An international whale watching conference staged in Iceland in March by IFAW and Icewhale (Iceland's whale watching association), attracted delegates from around the world, including Australia, the US, Brazil and Norway. During the conference delegates from 11 countries issued a joint statement declaring that commercial whaling poses a threat to the success of whale watching and eco-tourism.
IFAW opposes whaling on the grounds that it is cruel, unnecessary and unsustainable.
August. 2007. Iceland halts commercial whaling.
Conservationists and whale lovers are celebrating the decision by the government of Iceland not to issue any more commercial whaling quotas until demand for whale meat improves, especially in Japan.
‘I will not issue a new quota until the market conditions for whale meat improve and permission to export whale products to Japan is secured,’ said Guofinnsson. ‘There is no reason to continue commercial whaling if there is no demand for the product.’
However Icelandic whalers want to continue killing whales, saying they cannot build up the market if there is no product to sell.
Iceland announced a return to commercial whaling in October 2006. Despite an international moratorium on commercial whaling that has been in place for over two decades, Iceland and issued a quota of 30 Minke whales and 9 Fin whales, listed by the IUCN-World Conservation Union as an endangered species.
Of that quota, Icelandic whalers have killed 7 Minke whales and 7 Fin whales but have not been able to market the meat for a number of reasons. Fears of high toxic levels in North Atlantic whale meat have made both Icelanders and Japanese consumers reluctant to buy it.
‘This is fantastic news for whales and for Iceland,’ said Robbie Marsland, director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare's UK office. ‘Whaling is cruel and unnecessary,’ he said, ‘and all of our studies have also shown there is little appetite for whale meat in Iceland or internationally. We welcome the minister's comments and congratulate him for recognizing the lack of market and choosing not to press ahead with the pointless killing of more whales. We hope that Iceland's successful whale watching industry will continue to grow without the country's image being further tarnished by whaling.’
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Founder Captain Paul Watson says his 20 year long ‘aggressive’ campaign against Icelandic whaling has turned public opinion against the twin ideas of whale hunting and eating whale meat, although he acknowledges the pressure from his organization is one factor among many.
‘Iceland has been deterred by condemnation from the International Whaling Commission for their illegal slaughter of whales. They have been deterred by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species which will not authorize the sale of Icelandic whale meat to Japan. And they have been deterred by international public criticism,’ Watson said.
‘Much of that public awareness came about because of Sea Shepherd's Operation Ragnarok. The announcement in April that Sea Shepherd was sending its ship Farley Mowat to intervene against illegal Icelandic whaling generated a great deal of media attention towards the issue,’ he said.
In fact the Farley Mowat has not yet reached Iceland, and will not now travel the rest of the way. In November 1986, a Sea Shepherd crew sank half of Iceland's whaling fleet in Reykjavik harbour. No one was aboard when the ships were sunk. In January 1988, Watson flew to Iceland and demanded to be charged for the sinking. He says he wanted to stand trial ‘in response to Iceland's bogus charges of criminality.’ Iceland refused to lay charges.
Greenpeace says that while Fisheries Minister Guofinnsson's statement is short of declaring an end to Icelandic whaling, it is unlikely that market conditions for whale meat will improve, and even more unlikely that Japan will purchase the meat.
In addition to Iceland's self-authorized commercial whaling quota, since 2003 Iceland has been conducting a separate ‘scientific’ hunt for minke whales under a provision of the International Whaling Commission rules that allows for research whaling.
This was intended to be a two year program to hunt 200 whales, begun in 2003. Yet with only one more month of the 2007 whaling season left, the scientific hunt is still 6 whales short of that quota. Meat from this hunt is also piling up in storage lockers, unsold.
There are alternatives to lethal research which makes killing whales for science unnecessary, Greenpeace says, calling for Iceland to announce an end to all whaling.
Greenpeace is holding out an economic carrot to Iceland if the hunt is ended. ‘Sparing the six Minkes remaining in the scientific quota could earn Icelandic tourism a bonus of $116.9 million from the 122,000 Greenpeace supporters worldwide who have pledged to consider a visit to Iceland if whaling stops,’ the organization said Friday. ‘All the minister has to do is announce he's hanging up the harpoons.’
