Icelandic whale slaughter (1 Viewer)

[ikw101]

This was going to be posted in the seawatch forum however I think the fact that a red-listed species is being slaughtered despite international condemnation is something we should all be aware of. Sadly it all goes to prove what can happen when governments think we no longer care.

An extract from our friends at WDCS dated 25th October 2006

Iceland kills third fin whale

Icelandic whalers have killed the third fin whale in their new, highly controversial commercial whaling programme.

The news comes just days after Iceland announced that it would return to commercial whaling, despite the international ban, targeting nine fin whales and 30 minke whales in 2006/7, in addition to their so-called ‘scientific hunt’.

Fin whales are the second largest animals on the planet and are listed as endangered by the World Conservation Union. WDCS is deeply concerned about the current escalation in commercial whaling around the world and the push for a resumption in international trade in whale products. Iceland’s latest actions are part of an orchestrated campaign to undermine the International Whaling Commission and recommence commercial trade.

Iceland’s announcement that it will resume commercial whaling, swiftly followed by the killing of three fin whales, has sparked heavy criticism from governments, media and individuals around the world. Thousands of protest letters have been sent to the Icelandic Government by concerned individuals, including from WDCS supporters. 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 and for all” . The United States has already certified Iceland’s scientific whaling under domestic legislation as "undermining the effectiveness of the IWC", a step that could lead to trade sanctions.

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. Icelandic government officials and whaling industry representatives have recently indicated that Iceland is considering exporting whale meat to the Faroe Islands, a territory of Denmark, and Japan.

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.

Join our whaling campaign

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.

Please send a protest e-mail to the Icelandic Government now.

Please help us spread the word about the need to protect whales by telling your friends and family.

We can only end commercial whaling with your help – thank you

Source: WDCS


http://wdcs-uk.org/e_campaigns/e_campaigns/campaigns.php?select=campaign12

 

[Mick East]

Hi

Signed and sent.

Has anybody got a list of Icelandic companies that could be blanked??

Mick

 

[James Eaton]

Signed, best of luck. Hope everyone who reads this thread signs.....

Regards,

James

A non-seafood eater!

 

[colonelboris]

I'd like to know where the meat is sold to, along with the huge amount of fish landed by EU fishermen.
Then someone like Greenpeace should have a word with them too.

 

[Bonsaibirder]

signed

 

[PaulS]

also signed....

Paul

 

[desgreene]

Signed

 

[martin bevan]

icelandic whale slaughter

i also signed and i am going to let my friends no as well.

 

[David]

Signed personally - I'll pass it on to my lists and members.

 

[desgreene]

After sending the campaign letter I received the following reply:-

"Thank you for your correspondence concerning Iceland?s policy on whaling.

I wish to assure you that Iceland has no intention of catching any of the endangered species of whales, killed on a large scale by other whaling nations in the past. Iceland?s resumption of sustainable whaling only involves abundant stocks and is linked to Iceland?s overall policy of sustainable utilisation of marine resources.

Several countries catch whales, most of them on a much bigger scale than Iceland. The biggest whaling countries among the members of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) are the United States, Russia, Norway, Japan and Greenland. The whaling operations practiced by all those countries, as well as Iceland, are sustainable and legal and in accordance with the rules of the IWC.

Iceland fully appreciates the need for careful conservation of marine resources. Our economy depends on those resources as marine products constitute around 60% of Iceland?s revenue from exported goods and almost 40% of all Icelandic exported goods and services. Disruption of the ecological balance in Icelandic waters due to overfishing or other reasons could have catastrophic consequences for the livelihood of Icelanders.

As you may know, Iceland was among the first countries in the world to extend its fishery limits to 200 nautical miles in the year 1975, in order to put an end to the uncontrolled fishing around Iceland by trawlers
from other countries. Since then Iceland has taken great care in
maintaining balanced and sustainable fishing in Icelandic waters by enforcing an effective management system for various fish species including cod, herring and capelin.

Iceland takes pride in its pioneering work in this field, which has been emulated by many countries in the world wishing to avoid unsustainable
practices. The annual catch quotas for fishing and whaling are based on
recommendations by scientists, who regularly monitor the status of the stocks, thus ensuring that the activity is sustainable.

For a number of years, Iceland has acknowledged the need for scientific research on whales to gain a better understanding of the interaction between the different whale stocks and other marine species and the role of whales in the marine ecosystem. Therefore, Iceland began implementing a research plan on minke whales in 2003. So far, 161 minke whales have been taken and we look forward to the completion of the research plan in 2007 when the sample size of 200 minke whales has been obtained. Whaling quotas will take into account the number of whales that are taken in the implementation of the research plan, ensuring that the total number remains well below sustainable levels.

There are many different whale species and stocks in the world's oceans. Some are in a poor state and in need of protection. However, many whale populations are far from being threatened or endangered. The total stock size of Central North-Atlantic minke whales, for example, is close to 70,000 animals. Of those, around 43,600 live in Icelandic coastal waters.
Fin whales in the Central North Atlantic number around 25,800 animals. Both estimates have been agreed by consensus by the Scientific Committees of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and the North-Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO).

Iceland?s decision to resume sustainable whaling involves takes of 30 minke whales and nine fin whales, during the current fishing year which ends on 31 August 2007. This will bring the total catches of minke whales in Icelandic waters during this fishing year to 69, including the minke whales taken in completing the research plan. These takes equal less than 0.2% of the number of minke whales in Icelandic coastal waters, an even smaller fraction of the total stock, and less than 0.04% of fin whales in
the Central North Atlantic. Both are considered to be close to
pre-exploitation levels and estimated sustainable annual catch levels are 200 and 400 fin and minke whales respectively. As the catch limits now issued are much lower, the catches will not have a significant impact on whale stocks. A responsible management system will ensure that the catch quotas set will not be exceeded. The catches are clearly sustainable and therefore consistent with the principle of sustainable development.

Iceland?s resumption of sustainable whaling is legal under
international law. At the time of the re-entry of Iceland into the IWC, Iceland made a reservation with respect to the so-called moratorium on commercial whaling. As a part of that reservation, Iceland committed itself not to authorise commercial whaling before 2006 and thereafter not to authorise such whaling while progress was being made in negotiating the
IWC?s Revised Management Scheme (RMS), a management framework for
commercial whaling.

At the IWC?s Annual Meeting in 2005, Iceland went on record expressing its regret that no progress was being made in the RMS discussions. At this year?s IWC Annual Meeting, Iceland?s judgement of the situation was reconfirmed as the IWC generally agreed that talks on an RMS had reached an impasse. As a result, Iceland?s reservation has taken effect. Therefore, Iceland is no longer bound by the so-called moratorium on commercial whaling. In this respect, Iceland is in the same position as other IWC members that are not bound by the moratorium.

Iceland was one of the first countries in the world to realize the
importance of a conservation approach to whaling. As signs of
overexploitation of whales emerged early in the last century, Iceland declared a ban on whaling for large whales around Iceland in 1915. Whaling was not resumed until 1948, except for limited catches 1935-1939. Strict rules and limitations were applied to whaling in Iceland from 1948 to 1985 when all commercial whaling was halted again following a decision by the IWC.

Iceland has been a leading advocate for international cooperation in ensuring sustainable use of living marine resources, including whales. This has been the position taken by Iceland within the IWC, based on the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling from 1946. The stated role of the IWC, according to its founding Convention, is to ?provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry?.


I hope that this information will be useful to you in understanding Iceland?s position on sustainable whaling. You may rest assured, that the desire to ensure the conservation of the whale stocks around Iceland and elsewhere is fully shared by the Icelandic Government.



Sincerely yours,
Gunnar Pálsson, ambassador
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs"

Regards,
Des

 

[xFritzx]

signed and sent. lets hope something changes.

 

[David]

I hope people are following

A sad day

as well. The more views the merrier!

David
​

 

[Alan henry]

sighed & sent

Cheers



Alan

 

[Ilya Maclean]

After sending the campaign letter I received the following reply:-

"Thank you for your correspondence concerning Iceland?s policy on whaling etc...

Des

I received the same reply. Two points worth raising that I thought of (I'm sure there are others). I've raised these in an E-mail to Gunnar Palsson.

Firstly, the response states that Fin Whales are not endangered. According to the best available independent scientific source, the IUCN red list, they are.

Secondly, the response mentions Iceland's research programme aimed at gaining a better understanding of the interaction between whale stocks and other marine species. How will catching and landing the whales achieve this? A whole range of alternative techniques are available to study this, that do
not involve killing whales. These would in fact provide a much greater
understanding of such interactions.

 

[Jos Stratford]

Signed, also drafted and sent e-mails to the consul and resposible embassy out here. Maybe worth members not in the UK also doing this - widens the spread of voices opposed.

 

[Stevie babe]

Signed and sent

Steve

 

[Jane Turner]

signed and sent and forwarded!

 

[Rediscovered]

Signed and sent. Some great points have been raised in regards to the Icelandic reply, thank you for sharing! They'll come in handy, I'm sure, when I get my reply.

 

[ikw101]

The truth is out there

In reply to the standard email response from the Icelandic government check out the following http://www.wdcs.org/dan/publishing.nsf/allweb/BE2BFF61C6BD258E80256F3500551530

Its encouraging to see the suppport from UK Fisheries Minister, Ben Bradshaw,:

“Iceland’s decision is inexplicable and inexcusable and will do untold damage to its international reputation. We see this as a flagrant disregard of the internationally agreed moratorium on commercial whaling.

The public in Britain and around the civilised world will feel rightly outraged at Iceland’s action.

The fact that Iceland will now target fin whales, which are classed as endangered, shows a blatant disregard by Iceland for the conservation status of this species.

Whaling is cruel and unnecessary and Iceland cannot find markets for its existing whale meat from its so called scientific whaling.”

Or for a more european perspective the following statement was released by the 25-country bloc's executive Commission on Friday October 20th.

"Whales are a fragile component in the biological equilibrium of marine fauna, already threatened by the unwarranted resumption of whaling, and by other human activity, mainly pollution," said in a statement.

"If it was simply a matter for the EU to decide, all commercial whaling would be abandoned once and for all," it added.

If only they can find a similar level of agreement as regards overfishing!

 

[timwootton]

With regard to the petition - agree and signed. With regard to the 'scientific' propoganda from the Icelandic Minister. . . I was taught that there is only one question ever worth asking of anyone, of anything - and that is - WHY?

(yet to see a convincing argument for . . . )