Three whale species face Iceland's harpoons

7.30am

COPENHAGEN - Iceland plans to resume whaling this month, hunting 38 minke whales in August and September, its Ministry of Fisheries said on Wednesday, sparking angry protests from the country's tourism industry.

Iceland has not hunted the sea mammals since 1989, when it succumbed to international pressure, but in June it told the International Whaling Commission (IWC) it intended to resume what it called scientific whaling.

Some Icelandic marine biologists say there are now so many whales that Icelandic fish catches are threatened. They say an estimated 43,000 minke whales in Icelandic waters eat two million tonnes of fish and krill every year.

Despite decades of protection, seven of the world's 13 great whale species remain at risk, including fin and sei whales which Iceland plans to catch, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) conservation group.

Iceland says it plans to kill 100 minke whales, 100 fin whales and 50 sei whales in the next two years.

"It has now been decided to launch the part of the plan relating to the minke whale this year," the Ministry of Fisheries said in a statement.

Whale meat and other products are popular in Japan, which carries out what it calls scientific research whaling.

Norway engages in commercial whaling in defiance of the IWC moratorium.

The three pro-whaling nations say that, while endangered species should be protected, other whales such as the minke are now numerous and hunting should be allowed under strict control.

"In the first year of the research, fewer minke whales will be hunted than previously planned, 38 instead of 100, as the whaling begins later in the year than in the original plans, or in the middle of this month," the ministry statement said.

Iceland refused to sign a commercial whaling moratorium agreed in 1986 and stormed out of the IWC in anger over the ban, before rejoining the organisation last year.

A vast majority of the people of Iceland, which has a long whaling tradition, are in favour of the hunt, with opinion polls showing up to 75 per cent supporting it.

But the country's tourism industry with whale-watching tour operators in the frontline warned that foreigners might start to boycott Iceland and Icelandic fish products.

"We fear a strong reaction abroad, and ... a terrible side effect on the tourist industry and fish export," Asbjorn Bjorgvinsson, chairman of the Icelandic Whale Watching Association, told Reuters.

Jon Gunnarsson, head of the pro-whaling group Ocean Harvest, said he did not fear the decision would harm Iceland's economy.

"I think whaling could contribute to the tourist industry in Iceland," he told Reuters.

"Before whaling was stopped, the whaling station was one of our most popular tourist sights."

Rune Frovik, secretary of the pro-whaling High North Alliance, said there
would probably be an outcry by animal rights activists claiming the resumption of whaling would tarnish Iceland's image and foreign trade.

"Experience shows that there is nothing to fear – the outcry will last for only a short period and this will work out fine."

The International Fund for Animal Welfare today accused Iceland of using "the pretext of scientific research" to sidestep the global ban on commercial whaling imposed by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1986.


"There is absolutely no scientific basis for these whales to be killed," said IFAW President Fred O'Regan.

"Whales already face constant threat from pollution, entanglement in fishing nets, habitat loss and other dangers."


The US government also expressed strong opposition to Iceland's decision. The US commissioner to the IWC, Roland Schmitten said his country was "extremely disappointed with Iceland's decision to begin a lethal research whaling program".


- REUTERS, HERALD STAFF