Whaling Update: Higher Quotas and Additional Species Targeted

By Kate O'Connell, CSI Board

The pressure continues to mount, as whaling nations take aim against the International Whaling Commission (IWC) ban on commercial whaling. On October 17th, 2006 the Ministry of Fisheries for Iceland announced plans to allow a resumption of commercial whaling, in addition to its on-going "scientific research program" that has resulted in the take of 161 minke whales since 2003. Iceland's commercial whaling plan called for the take of 30 minke whales and nine fin whales by September 2007. The global population of fin whales has been listed as endangered by the IUCN, the scientific body which develops the "Red List" of endangered and threatened species.

Within days of the announcement, the 51 meter long whaling vessel Hvalur set sail, and killed its first fin whale on October 22nd, some 200 miles off the west coast of Iceland. By the time Kristjan Loftsson, the owner/manager of the whaling company also called Hvalur, stopped the hunt in early November due to poor weather conditions, seven fin whales had been killed. In addition, a minke whale was also taken under the new commercial permit by the vessel Halldor Sigurdsson. Captained by Konrad Eggertsson, this boat has also been involved in the on-going scientific hunt for minke whales. The Fisheries Ministry says it intends to take an additional 39 minkes for "science" by the close of the annual fishing season on August 31, 2007.

Iceland's decision to resume commercial whaling came under swift and strong global criticism. On November 1st, twenty-four governments as well as the European Commission expressed their opposition to renewed Icelandic commercial whaling in a strongly worded diplomatic protest known as a "demarche". The governments that signed the statement were Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, The Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Commission.

The protest called on Iceland to respect the moratorium and halt its commercial whaling operations. Further, the demarche noted that Iceland's commercial whaling quotas "determined and prosecuted in the absence of any agreed management system undermines the proper functioning of the International Whaling Commission." This latter statement could well play a key role in determining possible actions against Iceland by the US government under what is known as the Pelly Amendment. This amendment allows the President of the United States to ban imports of fish products from a country which has been determined to "diminish the effectiveness" of an international conservation program designed to protect fisheries and wildlife.

Iceland was certified under the Pelly Amendment in the summer of 2004, after it had rejoined the IWC with a questionable reservation on the commercial whaling ban and started its "research" hunt for minke whales. Although the certification is technically still active, the US in 2004 had decided against implementing economic penalties against Iceland and no further actions were taken. On December 13th, Cetacean Society International joined a coalition of animal protection and conservation organizations in asking the Bush Administration to act on the certification, and to move quickly to impose trade sanctions on Iceland.

CSI and twelve other groups - the Humane Society, Defenders of Wildlife, the Environmental Investigation Agency, Natural Resources Defense Council, Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, Animal Welfare Institute, the World Society for the Protection of Animals, Cousteau Society, American Cetacean Society, Whaleman Foundation, Earth Island Institute, and the International Wildlife Coalition - sent a letter to both Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez and Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne urging that action be taken against Iceland not only for its defiance of the IWC commercial whaling ban, but also for diminishing the effectiveness of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which prohibits international trade in whale meat.

The text of the letter stated the group's belief that "Iceland is now undermining the IWC on two fronts and conducting commercial as well as scientific whaling in defiance of the IWC's moratorium. It needs to face both certification and sanctions by the United States for its conduct." Further, the coalition asked the US to take action in order to confirm the United States' long-standing policy of opposing commercial as well as lethal research whaling. Iceland's whaling, in addition to its plans for international trade "show indifference to world opinion and blatant disregard of two vital international conservation programs."

Iceland's economy has already started to feel the backlash of that world opinion. On December 8, 2006, the Icelandic publications Frettabladid and Iceland Review reported that the supermarket chain Whole Foods had contacted Fisheries Minister Einar K. Gudfinnsson to express its displeasure with the country's decision to resume commercial whaling. Whole Foods currently operates 189 stores in the US and the UK. Gudfinnsson received a letter from Kenneth Meyer, CEO of Whole Foods east coast division in which Meyer stated that the company could no longer market Icelandic products as their clients were opposed to whaling. The CEO warned that if Iceland did not change their attitude towards whaling then customers would likely start boycotting Icelandic goods. Ironically, Iceland has been trying to increase its market in the US by promoting itself as a "green" producer.

Iceland's decision to resume commercial whaling has resulted in sharp declines in bookings for travel to Iceland. The Times in London reported that Clive Stacey of the Discover the World travel agency said that his company (which had sent 7,000 British tourists to Iceland in 2006) had seen bookings drop by 25 percent in the two weeks following the opening of the fin whale hunt. Heimir Hardason of North Sailing, an Icelandic whale watch company stated that a "significant number" of tourists had already cancelled trips to protest the government's decision.

Asbjorn "Abbi" Bjorgvinsson, chairman of the Icelandic Whale Watching Association and recipient of the UN Environment Program Global 500 award in 2000 for his work on promoting responsible whale watching in Iceland, has urged tourists to continue to visit Iceland to support the tourism industry, which he claims is the main sector in the country fighting against whaling. In an interview with the UK newspaper The Guardian, Abbi said that if visitors go on whale-watching trips it will help to build the economic case for whale-watching over whaling. The numbers of whale-watching tourists in Iceland has grown from a few hundred in the early 90s to nearly 90,000 in 2006, and is a significant source of revenue for the country.

In addition to its extremely unpopular decision to resume whaling, Iceland also made the headlines in a negative way in late November when it blocked a proposed moratorium on bottom trawling, an environmentally destructive fishing technique, during a meeting of the UN. Bottom trawling is a method of fishing that entails towing a cone-shaped net across the bottom of the ocean, indiscriminately taking non-target species and causing ecological damage to reefs and the sea floor. Fisheries Minister Gudfinnsson's decisions on both whaling and bottom trawling seem likely to harpoon Iceland's reputation as a responsible fishing nation.

Iceland, however, is not alone in targeting endangered whales. Japan plans to kill up to 935 Antarctic minke whales and 10 fin whales this year as part of its lethal scientific whaling activities. On the 15th of November, 2006, Japan's whaling fleet set sail for the Antarctic, looking to kill whales for its JARPA II research program. In response, a demarche was sent to the government of Japan by 27 governments, including the US, the UK, Australia and Mexico, expressing concern about JARPA II, and stating that it is unnecessary to use lethal means to obtain scientific information needed to manage whale stocks. Of great concern is the fact that JARPA II is due to begin taking 50 fin whales and 50 humpback whales during the 2007/2008 Antarctic whaling season. The fin whale, as mentioned above, is listed by IUCN as endangered, while humpback whales remain classified as "vulnerable" on the Red List.

According to the demarche, about one third to a half of the humpback whales that will be killed are known to researchers on the east and west coasts of Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia and Tonga. These animals have been photographed and identified as part of existing non-lethal scientific research programs. Further, some of the humpbacks which will be targeted by JARPA II on their summer feeding grounds are likely to belong to small, vulnerable populations that over winter in the South Pacific, including some that remain critically endangered. The governments called on Japan to halt all lethal aspects of the JARPA hunt.

Although Norway's 2007 overall minke quota remains the same as the 2006 level at 1052 animals, there has been a change that is designed to make hunting easier for the whaling industry. According to interim Fisheries and Coastal Affairs Minister Dag Terje Andersen, "The quota is the same as in 2006. There is a crucial difference: in 2007 it will be permitted to catch 900 animals along the (Norwegian) coast ..., an increase of 300 animals in these areas compared to [2006]." This represents an increase of about 30% over the 2006 coastal quota, and the whalers hailed it as an important victory.

"The government's quota policy creates the necessary conditions for the whaling sector to be profitable," president of the pro-whaling lobby group, the High North Alliance, Rune Frovik said.

Take action against Icelandic whaling!

CSI is asking its members to protest Iceland's decision to resume commercial whaling by contacting the embassy at:

Ambassador Albert Jonsson
1156 15th Street N.W., Suite 1200
Washington DC 20005-1704

Tel: (202) 265-6653

Email: icemb.wash@utn.stjr.is