It is feared that two of our northernmost neighbours, Iceland and Norway, may have once again taken up their harpoons and waterproofs and headed out to sea in search of harmless fin and minke Whales, in order that their life may be ended and their spiritless meat exported over to Japan, according to Greenpeace.
The International Whaling Commission (IWC) was set up on the back of the International Convention of the Regulation of Whaling, signed in December 1946. The IWC is designed to conserve whale stocks, allowing for well-regulated whaling to continue. Entire species are protected by its authority, as are specific areas designated as sanctuaries from the sharp eyes of the whalers. The IWC has a total ban on commercial whaling, and by exporting whale meat Iceland and Norway are resuming a practice which they have managed to leave alone for the last twenty years. Any export of whale meat would also undermine the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
Populations of whales are extremely sensitive to over exploitation, as they are slow growing, long living beasts. Their numbers cannot recover once cut through by the bow of a whaling ship, as the sad case of the fin whale has shown.
Having never been offered whale meat I can make no comment as to whether the flesh lust of those keeping the ships sailing is worth the decimation of the creatures themselves. If cows were majestic, musical, mysterious beasts that were on the endangered list people would doubtless have no problem in not eating beef anymore. At any rate, Japan has previously considered North Atlantic whale meat rather unsafe to eat, due its high levels of mercury and dioxin, and nobody suggests that demand for whale meat is growing.
Iceland makes money off the whales which pass through its waters in two ways. Despite protests this year from Iceland's foreign minister and last year's announcement from the country's fisheries minister, who ceased issuing quotas for commercial whale hunting, it is clear that whale meat is being exported, and that money is passing back into the country. In addition to hunting, Iceland benefits from the hundreds and thousands of tourists who desire to see the creatures swimming around without harpoons in their backs. Over the last ten years the whale watching industry has increased dramatically. Of the two industries, I'd place a safe bet that it's the latter which is the most sustainable, not to mention the most humane.
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This post was written by Matthew Gammie on June 6, 2008