On Iceland's day of Independence the first fin whale of the whaling
season is brought for processing at the whaling station at the end of
Hvalfjörður, SW Iceland. IFAW, ICEWHALE and
SEEDS gathered their troops to peacefully protest this action, with banners
asking the question “what’s the point?” and statements such as “Don’t let your
visit to Iceland leave a bad taste in your mouth, choose a whale friendly
restaurant”.
Iceland has been
hunting whales since the late 1940's before this Norway was the main whaling
body hunting whales in Icelandic waters. The whaling station in Hvalfjörður has
been processing whales since 1948. Currently, Iceland has a quota of 154 fin
whales per year and these are processed and then exported to Japan. Fin whales
are the second largest of all whales and classified as Endangered by the
IUCN.
The question ‘what’s the point?’ refers to the fact
that the market in Japan has been decreasing and has even been reported, by
IFAW, WDCS and EIA amongst others, that the meat has been used as dog food. The transportation of these products to Japan is also costly, time
consuming and legally restrictive. The WDCS states on their website that “During 2009 and 2010, exports of
whale oil to Norway and other frozen products to Japan were conducted under
their respective reservations to the CITES Appendix I listing of whales, while
a shipment of whale meat to Latvia in early 2010 violated both CITES and
European Union laws”.
So definitely begs the question, What’s the
Point?
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