ENVIRONMENT-EUROPE: Iceland Faces a Whale of a Problem

By Lowana Veal Reprint | | Print |

Lowana Veal

REYKJAVIK, Iceland, Jan 29 2004 (IPS) - To whale or not to whale is turning out to be among the most controversial questions that Iceland faces.

Icelanders stopped commercial whaling after the International Whaling Commission (IWC) set up a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986. But they continued to catch fin and sei whales for another three years under the guise of scientific research.

Now many people in this island country of no more than 280,000 are itching to resume whaling. The decision last year to catch minke whales for scientific purposes is being seen as a test case to gauge reaction. If opposition is modest, commercial whaling could resume in 2006.

The fisheries ministry authorised the hunting of 38 minke whales between mid-August and the end of September last year to determine their diet composition.

Scientists differ where the evidence of diet lies. Australian scientists have said that necessary information can be found in faeces research and fatty acid analysis. Gisli Vikingsson, project manager for whale research at Iceland’s Marine Research Institute (MRI) thinks not.

"Faecal analysis is not a sufficiently established method for studying diet composition of whales and appears to be impractical with minke whales," he says. "Their faeces don’t float on the surface, unlike faeces of blue whales that Australians have researched using this method."

In addition, he says, "faecal analysis only gives qualitative data, not quantitative. For our research, analysis of stomach contents is necessary."

Not all Icelanders agree with this. Many at the MRI itself say that killing whales is not necessary for their research.

Minke whales are opportunistic feeders, and eat what is available. So it is meaningless to research the stomach contents of whales caught during a six- week period because what a minke whale eats in August is probably not the same as what it ate in May or June when different fish may have been around, some whaling scientists say.

For such research to be any use, more whales must be caught at different times of the year. The earlier plan in August was to catch 200 minke whales over a two-year period, so it is likely that whaling will continue this year even though a decision has not officially been taken.

At the IWC meeting last year, plans were also put forward to catch fin and sei whales. But the fisheries ministry says no decision has been taken on this.

Defenders of whaling say whales eat fish that otherwise could be caught by fishermen, or that whales and fish compete for the same food source.

Vikingsson says that "although there is a potential for competition between growing whale stocks and the fisheries, we’re trying to minimise this aspect as we simply don’t know enough about what whales eat."

Fisheries account for about 70 percent of Iceland’s export earnings, and for 12 percent of the work force. A dominant reason Iceland has not joined the European Union is fear of intrusion into its fishing rights.

Icelandic officials know that many countries oppose whaling, but they do not often understand what lies behind this. They believe that if target groups are bombarded with pro-whaling propaganda, they will understand there is no shortage of whales around Iceland (like about 43,000 minke whales).

Officials say people opposed to whaling on moral grounds should restrict their opposition to whaling by their own countries, and not impose it on Iceland.

But objections are coming in from embassies and travel agents, and from near and far.

British fisheries minister Ben Bradshaw said last year he would encourage boycott of Icelandic products because of whaling. The United States made similar threats.

The British ambassador in Reykjavik delivered a protest letter to the government signed by 23 countries opposed to resumption of whaling. Environmental groups have been vocal in their opposition. Greenpeace has just opened an office in Iceland; it wants to attract tourists on condition that Iceland stops whaling.

Opposition to whaling has been growing within Iceland, mostly from the tourism industry. "If we hunt whales, we can say goodbye to whale-watching," says Gudmundur Gestsson who operates a whale-watching boat from Reykjavik. "It’s never possible to hunt and observe the same animal species, as it will become timid and unapproachable."

Whale-watching has now become one of Iceland’s prime attractions, so huge interests are at stake here. Somewhat ominously, on the other side of the jetty to Gestsson’s boat Hafsulan, four slightly rusty but fully seaworthy whaling boats rock gently in Reykjavik’s harbour.