Whaling off Iceland
The whaling off Iceland was from the country resumed after a stop of 2003. In the waters around the 66th parallel, there are mainly minke whales and the endangered fin whales . Both species are hunted. In 2019 and 2020, the two remaining whaling companies canceled the fishing season.
Ecology and habitats
In the cold and therefore oxygen-rich North Atlantic, there are disproportionately high populations of fish of all sizes . These form the foodstuff for the marine mammals around Iceland.
Marine mammals
Various species of the furrow whale ( Balaenopteridae ), a family of baleen whales , occur around the island. The species of the family of the furrows whales have a distinctive dorsal fin and significantly shorter and wider beards than others Walfamilien and the eponymous throat grooves. The family includes fin whales and minke whales as well as the larger humpback whales and blue whales around Iceland.
Fin whales ( Balaenoptera physalus ) can reach up to 26 meters in length and are the second largest mammal in the world after the blue whale. Fin whales are found in all oceans, but most common in temperate and coastal waters of the southern hemisphere. This whale species is classified as “critically endangered” in its population on the so-called Red List of Endangered Species and listed in Appendix I (absolute trade ban) of the Washington Convention.
Minke whale or minke whale ( Balaenoptera arcutorostrata ) are the smallest and most common furrowed whale species. They live in three geographically isolated populations in the North Pacific , North Atlantic, and Southern Hemisphere.
Habitats
Whales are found around Iceland.
The Faxaflói -Bay near Reykjavik is a popular whale and Walbeobachtungsgebiet. This is also where 80 percent of Iceland's minke whale catches take place.
The much larger fin whales are also hunted outside of the 15 miles of coastal waters. The animals are too big to be processed directly, and after being killed are tied alongside the ship and dragged into the harbor.
history
The first whale hunts around Iceland were mainly for the purpose of oil. In the 1950s, however, the whale meat began to be used as feed for pets and farm animals.
In 1982 the members of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) agreed to ban all commercial whaling activities from the 1986 hunting season (whaling moratorium). In contrast to other countries, Iceland did not appeal this decision at the time. After the moratorium went into effect, Iceland continued to kill small-scale whales off its coasts as part of a "scientific whaling program". In this way Icelandic whalers hunted around 60 whales a year until 1989. In 1992 Iceland left the IWC. However, ten years later, in 2002, the country rejoined. This time, however, with a legally controversial reservation against the moratorium. Many countries strictly rejected this attempt by Iceland to circumvent international treaties and the resulting regulations. Some countries therefore still do not recognize Iceland's membership.
Iceland resumed "scientific whaling" in 2003 with a five-year "research program" killing a total of 200 minke whales between 2003 and 2007. Without waiting for the completion of its own so-called research plan, Iceland reintroduced commercial whaling in 2006.
In January 2009 the Icelandic government was voted out of office by the Progress Party because of the country's major economic problems. The outgoing fisheries minister approved a massive increase in the quotas for the commercial hunting of fin and minke whales and the then new fisheries minister Steingrímur J. Sigfússon ( Left-Green Movement ) refused to reverse the short-term decision of his predecessor.
In May 2011, the Icelandic marine research institute HAFRO proposed, in addition to new quotas for 2011/2012, the option of increasing these by up to 20% of the unused quotas from 2010. In addition, the institute stated that if the minke whale hunt is extended to the open sea, Icelandic whalers will also be allowed to hunt in the so-called CM area around the Jan Mayen . The islands are located 650 km northeast of Iceland in the Greenland Sea . Norway also issues fishing quotas for this area .
Between 2013 and 2017, the size of the protection zone around Faxaflói Bay was repeatedly changed under the changing Icelandic fisheries ministers: After Steingrímur J. Sigfússon had expanded it in 2013, it was reduced in size by his successor Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson and reopened at the end of 2017 by Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir brought its expansion from 2013. As a result of the expansion of the protection zone, whaling had become considerably more difficult. It is no longer possible for whalers to reach the fishing grounds from Reykjavík in a day, which means that they have to employ more personnel.
Quota
| year |
Minke whale ( Balaenoptera acutorostrata ) |
Fin whale ( Balaenoptera physalus ) |
| 2013 | 38 | 134 |
| 2014 | 24 | 137 |
| 2015 | 29 | 154 |
| 2016 | 46 | 0 |
| 2017 | 17th | 0 |
| 2018 | 6th | 146 |
| 2019 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 0 | 0 |
Iceland's Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture receives an annual recommendation from the state institute HAFRO and then imposes a quota on its own whaling industry. In 2015, 239 minke whales were allowed to be killed. The quota for fin whales hunted from June onwards was 154 animals. In 2014 137 fin whales were harpooned.
In 2016, the only remaining fin whale hunter Kristján Loftsson canceled the hunt for the fin whale - despite official approval. He also made this decision for the 2017 fishing season because - as the entrepreneur announced - whaling is no longer economically viable. He cited the high import barriers in Japan and the strong Icelandic krona as reasons. The minke whale, also known as the minke whale, is still hunted. 46 animals were caught in 2016, and between 45 and 55 are expected to be shot in 2017. Annual quotas of 217 minke whales and 161 fin whales have been agreed for the period 2019 to 2023.
In 2006 the ministry argued that the North Atlantic's fish stocks could be threatened by whales, especially minke whales. “This is downright absurd in times of industrial fishing, in which practically every square meter of the seabed is affected every year, and in which many seabird colonies can no longer raise their offspring because, for example, the sand eels are missing due to the so-called rotten fishing. Here the whales are branded as scapegoats by the Icelanders, ” protested Olaf Tschimpke , President of NABU at the time .
For 2019 the catch quota was set at up to 209 fin whales and 217 minke whales. However, the two currently active whaling companies canceled the fishing season for both whale species for the first time in 17 years.
The fishing season was canceled again for 2020. The reasons given were export problems with Japan and the hygiene standards associated with the Covid 19 pandemic, which made manning the ships and processing the whale meat almost impossible. The managing director of one of the two remaining fishing companies announced the complete withdrawal from whaling: “I will never hunt whales again. I'm done with that once and for all. ”In addition, public opinion on whaling is changing in Iceland. The increasing importance of whale watching goes hand in hand with a declining willingness to justify whaling.
Whaling industry and export
The Icelandic whaling industry is closely linked to the fishing industry. Hvalur hf is Iceland's largest whaling company and the only one that also hunts threatened fin whales. The company is headed by Kristján Loftsson. He is also the CEO of HB Grandi , one of the largest fishing companies in Iceland. Fischmanufaktur Deutsche See GmbH in Bremerhaven is one of the main buyers of HB Grandi products.
HB Grandi rents factory buildings on the premises of its fish factory in Akranes to Hvalur hf, where the fin whale meat is cut up and packaged for export. Most of the meat is exported to Japan. Exporting is difficult because the countries that have signed the whaling moratorium sometimes refuse to allow ships carrying whale meat to enter their ports.
Hrefnuveiðimenn ehf (Icelandic Minke Whalers Association) and the Útgerðarfélagið Fjörður ehf hunt minke whales for domestic demand. The whalers are big enough to process the marine mammals directly on board. Only the more valuable and edible parts are cut out and all other body parts go overboard as bycatch. Minke whale meat is sold to restaurants and fish markets across Iceland. A large part is consumed by tourists. In 2020, however, instead of the previous 40, only 11% of tourists tried whale meat.
Some of the quotas issued by the ministry are not met because demand is too low. The whale meat is rated by many people as not very tasty. In recent years, the heavy metal content in whale meat has become an increasing problem. The Icelandic press reported in the spring of 2007 that 179 tons of "slaughterhouse waste", which consisted of one third to one half of fin whale carcasses, had ended up in landfills. Because there was hardly a market for the meat, Icelandic whale meat was processed into dog food in Japan until 2013 .
Iceland is likely to kill 1,600 whales by 2023.
Protests and conflicts
In addition to worldwide protests by nature conservation and animal welfare organizations, resistance is now also rising in Iceland itself. The whale watching industry is an important source of income for the country's tourism industry. With 200,000 tourists annually, whale watching has become one of the main attractions of Iceland with a turnover of around 13.5 million euros.
As early as 1978, the still young Greenpeace tried to disrupt Icelandic whaling boats with their ship Rainbow Warrior I. In 1979, Hvalur ships shot harpoons at the protesting conservationists. Iceland began to escort its elective fishing fleet with its coast guard . There have been two attacks on Greenpeace by armed coast guard boats. In another incident in international waters, the Icelandic Coast Guard picked up and confiscated Zodiacs from Greenpeace.
In July 2013, Greenpeace protested in the port of Hamburg against the Cosco Pride shipping company, which transported whale meat from Iceland to Japan. The containers were to be reloaded in Hamburg. The Icelandic company Samskip commissioned Evergreen Marine with the further transport. After the protests by Greenpeace, Samskip and Evergreen announced that they would no longer transport whale meat.
In 2015, the IFAW (International Animal Welfare Fund) called on the Icelandic government to comply with the request of the Reykjavík City Council . This passed a bipartisan resolution calling on the Minister of Fisheries to set up a large sanctuary for whales in Faxaflói Bay.
See also
Web links
- Hard to Port, German organization that works against commercial whaling
- National Marine Research Institute Hafrannsóknastofnun Íslands
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://de.whales.org/themen/walfang-in-island
- ↑ Jelena Ćirić: Whale Sanctuary Enlarged ( English ) In: Iceland Review . November 29, 2017. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
- ↑ Larissa Kyzer: Whalers Say Hunt More Difficult Due to Enlarged Sanctuary Area ( English ) In: Iceland Review . July 6, 2018. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
- ↑ http://us.whales.org/issues/whaling-in-iceland
- ↑ http://us.whales.org/issues/whaling-in-iceland
- ↑ https://iwc.int/table_objection
- ↑ https://us.whales.org/our-4-goals/stop-whaling/whaling-in-iceland
- ↑ https://iwc.int/table_objection
- ↑ https://iwc.int/table_objection
- ↑ https://us.whales.org/our-4-goals/stop-whaling/whaling-in-iceland
- ↑ Iceland will stop whaling in 2019. June 28, 19, accessed November 9, 2019 .
- ↑ A good summer for Iceland's whales. wwf, March 30, 2017, accessed April 23, 2017 .
- ↑ Second whaling ship left Iceland. May 25, 2017. Retrieved May 26, 2017 .
- ↑ https://www.government.is/topics/business-and-industry/sustainable-whaling-/
- ↑ https://www.nabu.de/presse/pressemitteilungen/http/index.php?popup=true&show=747&db=presseservice
- ↑ Iceland will stop whaling in 2019. June 28, 2019, accessed August 8, 2019 .
- ↑ No whaling in Iceland in 2020. April 28, 2020, accessed June 28, 2020 .
- ↑ Commercial whaling in Iceland has come to an end. May 4, 2020, accessed June 28, 2020 .
- ↑ GEO 06/2020, p. 26: "Got away with life"
- ↑ http://www.badische-zeitung.de/panorama/island- geht-wieder-auf-walfang-umstrittene-tradition-- 106980644.html
- ↑ GEO 06/2020, p. 26: "Got away with life"
- ↑ http://www.ifaw.org/deutschland/aktuelles/walfang-saison-island-beginnt
- ↑ https://www.greenpeace.de/walfang