By Lowana Veal
REYKJAVIK, Sep 14 2006 (IPS)

Commercial whaling may start in Iceland again if the owner of the Hvalur boats has his way.

His largest and youngest boat, Hvalur 9, has just been overhauled and is “just like new”, says Kristjan Loftsson. Now the disused whaling station in Hvalfjordur (Whale Fjord) will be overhauled. Whaling could begin later this month or next spring.

But isn’t this a bit sudden? Surely it is not possible for Iceland to start whaling again without agreements, discussions and the like?

Opinions differ on this. Proponents say nothing in the agreements made within the International Whaling Commission (IWC) prevents Iceland from resuming commercial whaling.

Iceland left the IWC in 1991 after disagreements over the moratorium on commercial whaling imposed by the IWC in 1982, and which took effect in 1986. Iceland rejoined the IWC in 2002, with the undertaking that it would not start whaling until 2006 unless it was given a quota before then.

More pro-whaling countries have joined the IWC in recent years and a Revised Management Scheme (RMS) for managing commercial whaling has been discussed within a scientific committee of the IWC, but no quotas have been given out.

At the IWC meeting in Korea in 2005, Iceland put forth a statement which said that no progress had been made under the RMS on commercial whaling, and that it was clear that no progress was foreseeable. There was no opposition to this statement.

Iceland’s interpretation was reiterated at this year’s IWC meeting in St Kitts and Nevis after it became obvious that no further progress had been made and further discussions were postponed. This has been understood by many in Iceland to mean that it now has the right by international law to commence commercial whaling.

Loftsson has no doubts. “If the boats and equipment are in good condition, there is nothing to stop us from starting to kill whales for commercial purposes,” he told IPS. “We will catch both fin and sei whales, but mainly fin whales. The meat will be sold both domestically and overseas.”

A recent Gallup survey carried out for companies in the fishing industry showed that 76.6 percent of respondents have eaten whale meat at some time in their life, and 73.1 percent of Icelanders are in favour of commercial whaling. Opponents of whaling tally 11.5 percent, compared to 20.8 percent when a similar survey was carried out in 1997.

Others have a different viewpoint. Arni Finnsson from the Iceland Nature Conservation Association says he is not sure whether all IWC member states share Iceland’s view on commercial whaling.

There is another problem, he said. “There is no market for whale meat in Iceland, and no market overseas either; it’s a little pigheaded to start commercial whaling without knowing why.”

He pointed to another Gallup survey carried out in summer this year for INCA and another nature conservation association that showed that “only 1.1 percent of Icelanders eat whale meat at least once a week, and 82.4 percent of Icelanders aged 16-24 never eat it.”

Erna Hauksdottir from the Icelandic Travel Industry Association is not happy about the prospect of resuming whaling. “We are against it because we don’t understand why people are going to start whaling. We feel that they shouldn’t rock the boat because of such an unclear interest. We know that many people in the countries with which we have the most business are against whaling.”

Since 2003 Iceland has been doing scientific whaling of the small minke whales during summer, mainly to find out what food they eat. They intend to research fin and sei whales as well.

Minke whales are abundant around Iceland; fin and sei whales less so. But after doing regular whale counts the Marine Research Institute has estimated that it is safe to hunt 150 fin whales annually. They have not been able to estimate a quota for sei whales because these come to Iceland somewhat irregularly and at a different time to fin whales.

Minister for Fisheries Einar K. Gudfinsson is a proponent of commercial whaling and makes no distinction between catching whales sustainably and catching fish.

At present only Norway catches whales on a commercial basis.

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