Environment: Solidarity Against Iceland Whaling
- October 23rd, 2006
- Posted by 7thmin
With the disclosure (21.10.06) that Icelandic whalers had killed the first fin whale for this year, voices against Iceland going back to commercial whaling have been given added strength, with backing now from the European Union.
The European Commission declared it strongly supported the conservation of whales.
It wanted commercial whaling abandoned once and for all, because whales were a fragile part of biological equilibrium, already threatened by unwarranted hunting and harm to their habitat, especially through pollution.
While Iceland was outside the European Union, the twenty-five member countries all observed the International Whaling Commission’s (IWC) ban on whaling enterprises, and they would spare no efforts to protect whales where they could.
Icreland has announced it will kill an additional thirty minke whales and also nine of the endangered fin whales.
The country which stopped commercial whaling seveneteen years ago, joined the IWC and set up a healthy whale watching industry for tourists, now re-joins Japan and Norway as whale hunters.
Picture: Advertisement for whale watching in Iceland