{"id":19835,"date":"2022-08-23T09:00:56","date_gmt":"2022-08-23T07:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/?p=65781"},"modified":"2022-08-23T09:24:12","modified_gmt":"2022-08-23T07:24:12","slug":"mark-carwardine-we-may-yet-be-a-step-closer-to-a-permanent-end-to-icelandic-whaling","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/mark-carwardine-we-may-yet-be-a-step-closer-to-a-permanent-end-to-icelandic-whaling\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Carwardine: we may yet be a step closer to a permanent end to Icelandic whaling"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Mark Carwardine\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 23 August 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Here we go again. We were on the verge of celebrating a permanent end to the horrors of Iceland\u2019s past \u2013 it looked as if it had hung up its harpoons for good \u2013 but our cautious optimism was premature.<\/p>\n

A few months ago, the country\u2019s most obstinate whaler, Kristj\u00e1n Loftsson, suddenly announced that he would resume whaling on 10th June this year, after a four-year lull. His quota? A shocking 161 fin whales. It\u2019s devastating news for the planet\u2019s second largest animal, which is still recovering from the ravages of more than one and a half centuries of commercial whaling. At least 915,000 fin whales<\/a> have been killed worldwide \u2013 and they are still considered \u2018vulnerable\u2019 on the IUCN Red List<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Iceland is one of three countries continuing to make a mockery of the International Whaling Commission<\/a>\u2019s 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling (the others are Norway and Japan). It stormed out of the IWC in 1992, then rejoined 10 years later (but this time, disgracefully, it was allowed to take out an official \u2018reservation\u2019 against the whaling ban).<\/p>\n

It promptly resumed commercial whaling in 2003 and, in the years since, has killed no fewer than 852 fin whales (which, in theory, have been protected in the North Atlantic since 1987) and 653 minke whales<\/a> \u2013 under its own self-allocated quotas.<\/p>\n

lceland resumed commercial whaling in 2003 and, in the years since, has killed 852 fin whales <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>

Despite the doom and gloom, we may yet be a step closer to a permanent end to Icelandic whaling. Icelanders are progressively changing their minds \u2013 in favour of whales. A recent poll by the International Fund for Animal Welfare<\/a> found that 35 per cent of them are opposed to fin whaling (compared to 17.1 per cent in 2013) and 33.2 per cent are in favour (compared to 56.9 per cent in 2013). That\u2019s definitely a step in the right direction. More importantly, a staggering 64.3 per cent of Icelanders feel that whaling is bad for the country\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n

Political support for whaling also appears to be waning. Fisheries Minister Svand\u00eds Svavarsd\u00f3ttir has hinted that Iceland will not issue any more whaling licences when the current five-year quota expires after the 2023 summer season. She points to the lack of any economic justification for the killing to continue (at last \u2013 it\u2019s been loss-making for many years).<\/p>\n

Icelanders are changing their minds \u2013 in favour of whales <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>

Iceland\u2019s Prime Minister, Katr\u00edn Jakobsd\u00f3ttir, also expressed her concerns in an interview with the Icelandic newspaper, Stundin<\/em><\/a>: \u201cI have grave doubts that whaling off the Icelandic coast can be considered sustainable from an environmental, social and economic perspective. I also doubt that the hunting methods meet the requirements we have for animal welfare.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been campaigning against whaling in Iceland for most of my adult life and have always believed that whale watching would be the long-term solution.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Tourists watch a humpback whale from a whale watching boat in Iceland. \u00a9 Francesco Riccardo Iacomino\/Getty<\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

I remember in 1991, together with three friends, chartering a 135-tonne lobster fishing boat for a week, to take a group of adventurous and spirited whale-watchers from the UK to watch whales off the spectacular south-east coast. It was Iceland\u2019s first commercial whale-watching trip and the whole point was to demonstrate that there was an economic alternative to whaling. At the time, most Icelanders believed we were completely bonkers \u2013 and we were mocked mercilessly in the Icelandic press.<\/p>\n

But it made the point and, subsequently, many others have picked up the baton. Nowadays, whale-watching is booming \u2013 no fewer than 364,000 people visited the land of ice and fire to watch whales in 2019 alone. Iceland\u2019s whales are categorically worth more alive than dead.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s taken more than 30 years to get this far. If there\u2019s one thing I\u2019ve learnt, you have to be unbelievably persistent, resolved \u2013 and patient \u2013 to be a conservationist.<\/p>\n

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