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Moves begin on Iceland’s whaling
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Moves begin on Iceland’s whaling
Britain’s fisheries minister has summoned Iceland’s ambassador to explain why the country has decided to start hunting endangered whales. Ben Bradshaw called Iceland’s position “inexplicable and inexcusable”.
Iceland announced it would resume commercial whaling after a hiatus of 20 years. Conservation groups are particularly angered by plans to hunt endangered fin whales; Iceland maintains numbers are high enough to permit hunting.
It disputes the assessment of scientists in IUCN, the World Conservation Union, that fin whale stocks are fragile. But Mr Bradshaw disagreed. “World opinion is rightly outraged by this flagrant disregard for international agreements,” he said.
“There is no rationale for this decision, and Iceland cannot even find markets for the whalemeat it gets from so-called ‘scientific’ whaling.” In diplomatic circles, summoning an ambassador is regarded as a fairly serious expression of displeasure.
But Stefan Asmundsson, Iceland’s whaling commissioner, said his government was not concerned. “Of course we want to have good relations with the UK and other countries around the world, and we’re hopeful that while perhaps not agreeing with us they will see matters from our standpoint,” he told the BBC News website.
“The British government’s position is well known, and we understand where they’re coming from, putting whales as a separate kind of animal that cannot be hunted; but we cannot accept that,” he added.
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