Iceland ends whaling due to lack of demand

Let's hope this turns into a global trend - if nobody wants to eat whales, noboday will want to hunt them, it all makes sense.

The following is from the UK Telegraph:

Iceland has stopped commercial whaling after whalers discovered they cannot find domestic markets for the meat they have caught.

Iceland's fisheries minister Einar K. Guofinnsson said that it made no sense to issue new quotas if the market for whale meat was not strong enough.

He said in an interview with Reuters that he would not issue a new quota until the market conditions for whale meat improved and permission to export whale products to Japan – which Iceland has been seeking – was secured.

"The whaling industry, like any other industry, has to obey the market. If there is no profitability there is no foundation for resuming with the killing of whales.”

"There is no reason to continue commercial whaling if there is no demand for the product," he added.

Iceland announced last year it would allow up to 30 minke whales and 9 fin whales to be hunted, controversially ending a ban in place internationally since 1986.

But Iceland’s whalers have killed just seven minke whales and seven fin whales because of slack demand for whale meat and products.

Stefan Asmundsson, an officer at the ministry of fisheries, said negotiations for market access to Japan were ongoing.

"We are talking to the Japanese government but so far we have not reached a conclusion on how best to secure the health and quality of the products," he said. "Hopefully this will clear up soon as the uncertainty is not good for anybody."

Whalers had celebrated the decision to allow them to resume a traditional custom despite protests from some two dozen anti-whaling countries, including the United States.

They are now frustrated with the government's stance and say they should be allowed to keep hunting to develop the market.

Gunnar Bergmann Jonsson, who leads a minke whaling association, said: "In my opinion the minister should not have any say on whether there is a market for our products or not. How are we supposed to find markets if we don't have a product?"

Robbie Marsland, director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, UK, said: “This is fantastic news for whales and for Iceland. There is no humane way to kill a whale, and all of our studies have also shown there is little appetite for whale meat in Iceland or internationally.

“We welcome the minister’s comments and congratulate him for recognising the lack of market and choosing not to press ahead with the pointless killing of more whales. We hope that Iceland’s successful whale watching industry will continue to grow without the country’s image being further tarnished by whaling.”

Sara Holden of Greenpeace pointed out that Iceland still plans to hunt 6 minke whales under a loophole in the international whaling ban that permits whaling for scientific reasons. Greenpeace is calling on the Icelandic government to also end this hunt.

She added: “Not only is there no appetite for whale meat worldwide, there is no legitimate lethal science programme that can be justified.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/08/24/eawhale124.xml

Contributed by Tim Hochgrebe added 2007-08-26