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On 17 October, Iceland announced its decision to resume commercial whale hunts for the first time in twenty years, ignoring an international moratorium. The government gave a whaling company a licence to hunt 39 whales — 30 minke and 9 fin whales — before the end of August 2007. Fin whales are on the IUCN Red List of endangered species.
The International Whaling Commission’s (IWC) moratorium on whaling came into force in 1985.Iceland left the IWC in 1992, but rejoined in 2002 with a reservation that allows the country to whale for scientific research. Its research permit allows it to hunt 200 minke whales from 2003 to 2007. 161 whales have already have been caught. The research aims to study the fish-whale relationship.
Greenpeace publicly denounced the decision and called the small quota a litmus test towards international reaction. “World opinion is rightly outraged by this flagrant disregard for international agreements,” British Fisheries Minister Ben Bradshaw said. “There is no rationale for this decision, and Iceland cannot even find markets for the whale meat it gets from so-called scientific whaling.” Norway and Japan, the two other major whaling countries, supported the move by Iceland to allow commercial whaling.
Iceland claims the proposed quota will not disrupt whale populations. It also asserts that whales contribute to the depletion of fish stocks, a major economic market for the country.
Set-up by the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) in 1946, the IWC is designed to promote and maintain whale fishery stocks. At its latest meeting, the IWC adopted a symbolic declaration saying that the whaling moratorium no longer is necessary (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 30 June 2006, http://www.ictsd.org/biores/06-06-30/story2.htm). However, to end the moratorium, 75 percent of the IWC would have to agree.
“Iceland to Resume Commercial Whale Hunts,” REUTERS, 18 October 2006; “Japan backs Iceland’s whaling decision,” AP, 18 October 2006; “Norway hails Iceland’s return to commercial whaling,” AFP, 18 October 2006.
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