Iceland´s Ministry of Fisheries granted permission to resume fin and minke whaling on October 17, 2006. This was in defiance of international agreements for the conservation of cetaceans.
Fin whales are listed as endangered species by the International Conservation Union (IUCN). The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species bans international trade in both minke and fin, as well as listing the fin whale as endangered.
Research shows a very limited market for the meat in Iceland and that the Japanese market is closed.
Iceland will gain more economically if the government withdraws the whale-hunting decision. Whale-watching earns more than does commercial whaling.
Already, reports are coming in of tourists cancelling their vacations here in protest to these inhumane killings. Whale-watching companies are now afraid of going under due to potential tourist loss.
There is no viable reason to continue this futile exercise. Let´s call on the Icelandic government to stop whaling immediately.
Iceland resumed whaling again on October 17, 2006, against international and environmentalist group pressure. Whales are an endangered species.
The whales are first speared anywhere on their bodies, then they are dragged, still alive, by ropes through the water. Their fins are then cut off and they are left to slowly bleed to death.
Iceland will benefit less, economically, from whaling, than it will if it stops whaling! Already, reports are coming in of tourists cancelling their vacations here in protest to these inhumane killings.
Whale-watching companies make more revenue than do these whaling ships. Whale-watching companies are now afraid of going under due to potential tourist loss.
There is no viable reason to continue this barbaric practise. Just because a nation has a past identification with certain cruel activities, does not mean it should perpetuate the killing of an intelligent, endangered species.
Let´s stop this now and save the whales.
