Trading Away The Whales' Future

By Kate O'Connell, CSI Board

As readers of Whales Alive! know well, there has been increasing pressure at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to allow the resumption of commercial whaling. At the same time, whaling countries have also been intent on trying to re-open commercial trade in whale products, which is currently banned by CITES, the international treaty that regulates trade in endangered species. Japan, Norway and Iceland, facing waning consumer interest in whale products in their own countries, are looking to lift the CITES ban in order to keep their whaling industries afloat.

Despite being a relative newcomer to CITES (it joined in 2000, with objections to the various species of whales listed by the Convention as protected) Iceland has recently taken center stage in the effort to challenge the international ban on trade in whale products. When the 22nd meeting of the CITES Animals Committee (AC) took place in Peru in early July, 2006, Iceland surprised the meeting with a proposal to include the central stock of North Atlantic fin whales in a periodic review geared towards determining if a species is correctly listed in the CITES Appendices.

This move is a clear indication that Iceland is looking to resume trade in fin whale products. Canada, Japan and Venezuela all supported the initial Icelandic request to add fin whales to the review process, while Germany and Israel spoke out against. At this point, the Committee voted to include the North Atlantic stock of fin whales in its periodic review; normally discussions in this committee are apolitical, and going to a vote is almost unheard of within the scientifically-based AC.

Spain then made a strong intervention to the effect that the inclusion of fin whales was contrary to the scientific criteria that the Committee had developed for itself over the course of many years, and along with other committee members, called on the Chair of the meeting to in effect "review the decision to review" fin whales. After referring to the rules of procedure, the Chair, Dr. Thomas Althaus of Switzerland, opted to reopen voting on the issue.

Unfortunately, the attempt by the conservation governments to derail Iceland's maneuvers fell short, despite an unprecedented total of three votes on the subject. The tally on the final vote was four members voting in favor, two against and three abstentions.

Voting at the Animals Committee is done by blocs or regions of countries, and if a consensus cannot be reached, it can force a region to lodge an abstention. This is just what happened in the case of the North American bloc, which had to abstain due to Canada's support for Iceland's proposal. Indonesia and Iran, on behalf of the Asian region supported the fin whale review, as did Zimbabwe on behalf of Africa.

Since 2002, Iceland has been threatening to kill as many as 100 fin whales in a research whaling program, although the IWC has not endorsed this plan in any way. Given its attitude at the AC meeting, Iceland is sure to revisit its proposal to hunt fin whales at the next IWC meeting, and a proposal to remove the ban on fin whale trade is expected to be discussed when CITES convenes its conference of the parties in June, 2007.

The Animals Committee move was only the beginning of Iceland's salvos against whales, and the ban on commercial trade in whale products; on the 15th of August, the Icelandic Fisheries Minister announced that he was extending the "scientific" minke whale hunt to the end of August for an additional ten whales, bringing the total number of whales killed by Iceland in 2006 to 60. Since Iceland resumed its whaling in 2003, 161 minke whales have been killed.

On the 2nd of September, it was reported in the Icelandic press that the head of the Whalers' Association, Gunnar Bergmann Jonsson, announced that five hundred kilos of minke whale meat were being exported to the Faroes Islands, a territory of Denmark. Gunnar expected that the meat would be sold at a price of 600 Icelandic kronur (about US$8.57) per kilo; he was quoted as saying that he hoped "that this will give impetus to the push to resume commercial whaling".

In instigating this trade in minke whale meat, Iceland is using technical loopholes in the CITES convention. As mentioned earlier, when Iceland joined CITES in 2000, it took a reservation to the listing of whales as a protected species for which trade is to be banned. Given this, Iceland is technically free to engage in sales of whale meat to other countries that are either not members of CITES, or which also have the same reservation in place (Japan and Norway, for example). Although the Faroes are a territory of Denmark, they have not ratified the CITES treaty themselves, and claim therefore not to be bound by the ban.

In 2003, however, when Norway attempted to export whale meat to the Faroes, CITES Secretary-General Willem Wijnstekers ruled that the action was illegal because of Denmark's CITES membership. Since then, Denmark has stated that the Faroes will only be bound by CITES if and when they pass their own legislation on the matter (the Faroes had made a public promise in 1977, when Denmark joined, to put CITES rules into its national legislation and abide by its terms, but have yet to act!).

The export of minke whale meat from Iceland to the Faroes is clearly an attempt to push open the doors for a wider trade in whale products. From Iceland's actions at the AC meeting, it is obvious that fin whales are once again in the cross-hairs of the efforts to kill the trade ban on whale products, and open exports to a wider market. Japan has stated its intent to take as many as 50 fin whales in upcoming years, Greenland (another territory of Denmark) has a subsistence quota of up to 19 fin whales, and Iceland has made it clear it, too, wishes to kill fin whales.

Kristján Loftsson, owner of the Icelandic whaling company Hvalur Ltd., brought one of his four whaling boats into dry dock in August in order to clean the hull and to ensure that the vessel is in good condition. In speaking to the press, he said that, "Of course we try to keep things going and make people see some sense... The Marine Research Institute's figures expect 200 minkes, 200 fin whales and 100 sei whales to be caught annually for scientific purposes, which is around the same amount that we were catching when we had all four ships at sea. We need to have licenses to catch 150 to 200 fin whales to be able to start the factory up again."

CSI is asking its members to contact the embassies of Iceland and Denmark, and protest the recent export of whale meat to the Faroes Islands, which violates the spirit of the CITES ban on trade in whale products.

Embassy of Iceland:
1156 15th Street N.W., Suite 1200, Washington DC 20005-1704
Tel: (202) 265-6653
Email: icemb.wash@utn.stjr.is

Embassy of Denmark:
3200 Whitehaven St., N.W.,Washington, D.C. 20008
Tel: (202) 234-4300
Email: wasamb@um.dk