What are they going to do with all that whale meat? When the government in Iceland announced on 17 October that commercial whaling could resume, the whaling boats wasted no time. On Sunday they landed an endangered fin whale. Hunters are allowed to catch nine fin whales and 30 minkes before 31 August 2007.
In 2004, however, only one-quarter of the meat from 39 minkes killed by Iceland for 鈥渞esearch purposes鈥� was sold nationally. This might mean the country is now planning large-scale exports, says Mark Simmonds of the UK鈥檚 Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.
The obvious recipient would be Japan. Trade in minke between the two countries is legal, since both have an exemption under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). 鈥淛apan congratulates Iceland for taking this decision,鈥� says Hideki Moronuki of the Japanese Fisheries Agency. 鈥淚t is simply a case of harvesting abundant marine resources at a level that will not affect the stock.鈥�
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Iceland鈥檚 announcement might also encourage other pro-whaling nations to push the International Whaling Commission to speed negotiations on a much-debated scheme to resume commercial hunting of minke, Simmonds fears. If Iceland is going to go ahead regardless, some IWC members might decide that it would be better to put quotas in place, he says. Also Japan may now be closer to restarting commercial whaling, though Moronuki says no decision has been made.
