Iceland kills first fin whale in decades

Just days after announcing that it would return to commercial whaling in 2006/7, Iceland killed a fin whale, the second largest species on the planet. This is the first time that fin whales have been hunted commercially in the North Atlantic since 1989 when Iceland killed 68 for so-called scientific research, but sold almost half the meat overseas.

Iceland’s new commercial whaling season will last until next summer, and overlap with the last year of its scientific research hunt for 39 minke whales. The hunt is not expected to continue through the winter as the weather worsens although press reports indicate that a second fin whale will be landed shortly.

Iceland currently has a very poor domestic market for the minke whales it has hunted since 2003 in its scientific whaling programme. The addition this year of 30 minkes and nine fin whales for commercial purposes indicates that Iceland intends to resume exports of whale products and it is expected to submit a proposal to the next meeting of the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in 2007, to permit full scale international commercial trade in at least these two species of whale. Meanwhile, it has tested the political waters by threatening to export 500kg of minke meat this month to the Faroe Islands, a territory of Denmark, under its Reservation to the CITES ban.

The political response to Iceland’s defiant gestures over recent days has been swift and harsh. Even before the first whale was struck, the European Commission called on Iceland to reconsider its decision to resume commercial whaling. The European Environment and Fisheries Commissioners jointly expressed regret at Iceland’s decision and stated that "If it was simply a matter for the EU to decide, all commercial whaling would be abandoned once for all”.

The United States has already certified Iceland under domestic legislation as "undermining the effectiveness of the IWC", a step that could lead to trade sanctions.

Sue Fisher, WDCS whaling expert, comments “over the last few years, Iceland has shown increasing disregard for international law; bending the rules relating to the internationally agreed global bans on commercial whaling and trade. Paying the price for Iceland’s arrogance – and likely to be dying long and painful deaths - will be some of the world’s most extraordinary animals. It is vital that people all over the world make their abhorrence at this latest action clear to Iceland now”.

Fin whales are far larger than the minke whales currently hunted by Iceland. They weigh up to 120 tonnes, can reach 24 metres in length and swim at over 20 knots. Iceland provides no data on the methods it uses or the time it takes to kill minke whales, and has provided no assurance that it will make gear modifications to ensure that these much larger animals are killed humanely.

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) imposed a ban on commercial whaling in 1986. Iceland complied, but continued hunting for so-called research for several years instead. It left the IWC in 1992. It rejoined in 2002 with a Reservation to the commercial whaling ban, but first re-commenced scientific whaling, hunting over 100 minke whales since 2003.

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Iceland believes the world has stopped caring about whales. We need to send a message loud and clear that we still care and that we do not support the resumption of commercial whaling and international trade in whale products.

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Source: WDCS