Iceland Resumes Commercial Whale Hunt

On Tuesday, the whalers set sail and, according to the Minke Whalers Association, the first whale was killed Tuesday in the seas off Faxafloa, an area popular with whale-watching tourists.

The minke whale, a male measuring 7.4 meters (24 feet), was sent to be processed and the resulting meat products soon will be available for sale.

Icelandic workers cut up a minke whale. (Photo courtesy World Council of Whalers)

Iceland's government has authorized the commercial hunting of whales this year after halting the whale hunt last August because there was no demand for whale meat in the marketplace.

But on Monday, Fisheries Minister Einar Gudfinnsson said the government has approved a quota of 40 minke whales for the 2008 hunt.

The decision drew immediate criticism from conservationists.

"We strongly urge the Icelandic government to rethink this decision," said Robbie Marsland, director of the British chapter of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

"The resumption of commercial whaling could prove to be extremely damaging to the already fragile Icelandic economy, and its international reputation," Marsland said.

Whaling proponents argue that whales eat too many fish and need to be killed in order to preserve fish stocks.

Sue Fisher, campaigner for the international nonprofit Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society said, "Marine ecosystems are far more complex and interwoven than the whalers would have us believe. Pollution, climate change and overfishing all pose far greater threats to fish stocks than whales do."

"Iceland's fishing industry is essentially an export economy, and Iceland's fisheries need to remember that many consumers simply will not want to buy fish from sources that are linked to killing whales," Fisher said.

Iceland whale-watching tourists are likely to be put off visiting a country that hunts the very same animals they travel to see, she said, adding, "Whales are worth more to Iceland alive than dead. Just nine dedicated whale watchers can provide the income equal to the market value of one dead minke whale in Iceland."

Icelandic whalers caught 45 whales last year and the meat was sold on the local market.

The government of Iceland is split on the resumption of the country's whale hunt. Foreign Minister Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir, of the Social Democratic Alliance party issued an unprecedented statement indicating that she was not in agreement with the decision.

Harpoon on the bow of an Icelandic whaler. (Photo courtesy World Council of Whalers)

Gisladottir has now been joined by fellow party member Industry Minister Ossur Skarpheoinsson, who is also distancing himself from the whale hunt.

Fisher said the decision to go whaling again is not good for Iceland's economy.

"Not only are the Icelandic Government jeopardizing both their whale watching and fish export industries with their continued commercial whaling, it’s actually costing them more to run the whaling industry than they receive as profit," she said.

"Subsidies to Iceland’s scientific whaling program ran at twice the market value of one dead whale, and it seems that Iceland’s continued whaling makes no economic sense whatsoever.”

New Zealand Conservation Minister Steve Chadwick said today that his government is "disappointed" that Iceland is going whaling.

"New Zealand is in contact with other pro-conservation countries to discuss responses to Iceland’s possible resumption of whaling," Chadwick said.

"Dialogue, diplomacy and direct negotiation are New Zealand’s best opportunity to influence whaling, and the International Whaling Commission, IWC, is the best forum for New Zealand to promote the protection of whales," he said. "I am looking forward to progress at the IWC meeting in June.”

Iceland is the second country after Norway to authorize commercial whaling. Japan officially hunts whales for scientific purposes, although the whale meat is sold for human consumption.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2008. All rights reserved.