Good news for wildlife activists across the globe—one of the world’s
last whaling companies has decided to pull the plug on its annual whale
hunt this summer, because of its difficulty to market the meat.
Iceland’s Hvalur company, which has killed 155 fin whales in the waters
of far North in 2015, has told Icelandic press Morgunbladid on Wednesday
that Japan, its main market for fin whale, has insisted that the meat
pass a full chemical analysis before going on market.
According to Hvalur’s CEO Kristjan Loftsson, Japan’s methods of testing
whale meat are outdated and make it too difficult to market his
products. Norway faced similar issues last year, when Japan found that
the country’s whale meat violated health standards, according to Vice
News.
"This could not have been an easy decision for Mr. Loftsson but it is
the right one for Iceland’s interests as well as his own," Patrick
Ramage, whale programme director at International Fund for Animal
Welfare told R&D Magazine. "We commend Mr. Loftsson on his decision
which is a very positive development for Iceland, for whales, and for
the millions of people around the world who care deeply about both.”
For more than a decade, IFAW has been working in the Nordic country,
alongside Icelandic leaders promoting responsible whale watching and
creative development of the ecotourism industry, according to Ramage.
Iceland has killed a total of 706 fin whales since the country resumed
commercial whaling in 2006. Its people traditionally don’t eat the meat,
which makes it the world’s second largest whale a species hunted with
the intention to sell the meat to Japan.
The news on curtailing the fin whale hunt this year could not have made
conservationists happier, who have long fought the world’s few remaining
commercial whales. Anti-commercial whaling campaigners say the practice
is inhumane and hinders conservation efforts. Hunting fin whales per se
is particularly controversial since they’re the second-largest mammals
on the planet, behind the blue whale.
Fin whales are slimmer and not as heavy as blue whales. Adult mammals
are usually 75-85 feet in length. As all other large whales, the fin
whale has been heavily hunted in the 20th century and is an endangered
species. More than 725,000 fin whales were reportedly taken from the
Southern Hemisphere between 1905-1976, and as of 1997 survived by only
38,000. The International Whaling Commission issued a moratorium on
commercial hunting of this whale, although Iceland and Japan have
resumed hunting. The species is also hunted by Greenlanders under the
IWC's Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling provisions. Global population
estimates range from less than 100,000 to roughly 119,000, according to
datab.us.
“This is incredible news and a significant blow to the future of the
outdated and unnecessary slaughter of whales for profit,” Greenpeace
Senior Campaigner Phil Kline said in a prepared statement. “Fin whales
are supposed to be under international protection, and both Iceland and
Japan have surpluses of whale meat.”
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