Iceland ships 1,700 tons of whale meat to Japan

An Icelandic ship loaded with 1,700 tons of  whale meat left for Japan on Thursday, in a move that has prompted outrage from environmental groups.
“Winter Bay has left Hafnarfjordur harbor with 1,700 tons of whale meat with Ghana… as their first destination,” Sigursteinn Masson, Iceland spokesman for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, told AFP.

Iceland and Norway are the only nations that openly defy the International Whaling Commission’s 1986 ban on hunting whales.
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According to Icelandic daily newspaper Eyjan, the meat was loaded aboard a ship near the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik two weeks ago – but mechanical failure has delayed the vessel's departure.

Icelandic whalers caught 137 fin whales and 24 minkes in 2014, according toWhale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), an anti-whaling group – compared with 134 fin whales and 35 minkes in 2013.

Last year, a shipment from Iceland to Japan made only one stop outside Madagascar's harbour. A stop had been planned in South Africa but was cancelled after protests prompted the government to declare them unwelcome.

Consumption of whale meat in Japan has fallen sharply in recent years while polls indicate that few Icelanders regularly eat the meat.

Whale watching is now one of the top tourist attractions in Iceland, generating around £10 million annually and attracting more than 200,000 tourists each year, proving that whales are worth far more to the Icelandic economy alive than dead.

Last September, the 28 member states of the European Union led a coalition including the US, Australia, Brazil, Israel and New Zealand in a political demarche stating their “strong opposition to Iceland’s continuing and increased harvest of whales…and to its ongoing international trade in whale products.”

Friday, June 05, 2015