U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke has officially told President Obama that Iceland's whaling pursuits directly threaten the endangered Fin whale. The president now must weigh his decision on how to handle the situation, which can include trading sanctions with the North Atlantic island nation.
Iceland stopped its whaling industry in the early 1990’s, but it resumed commercial whaling in 2006, and the number of Fin whales being taken has since risen to roughly 150 catches a year.
“Iceland's disregard for the International Whaling Commission's (IWC) global moratorium on commercial whaling is unacceptable,” said Locke. “Its harvest of whales and export of fin whale meat threaten an endangered species and undermines worldwide efforts to protect whales. It's critical that the government of Iceland take immediate action to comply with the moratorium.”
The Minister of Icelandic Fisheries, Jon Bjarnason, claims his nation is in legal jurisdiction on the matter. Claiming the “fisheries are managed by a catch quota system.”
He insisted that Iceland's whaling system is “based on sound science.”
Iceland left the IWC in 1992, but then rejoined ten years later with an agreement that the country may continue the act of whaling, which Iceland did in 2006.
The annual quota of Fin whales is 154 from a stock of approximately 20,000.
Click for Full Text!
