Iceland To Resume Commercial Whaling
Iceland and commercial whaling.
In a backwards step for the conservation of whales, Iceland has announced that it will resume commercial whaling in defiance of the international ban. It plans to kill nine fin whales, an endangered species, and thirty minke whales a year.
The hunt will be in addition to Iceland's current whaling programme, which it says is for scientific purposes, and which will end with the killing of at least 30 minke whales in 2007.
Iceland is also clearly planning to resume international trade in whale meat, as like Japan and Norway, its domestic market is stagnant and it cannot even sell the minke whales that it is currently killing.
Commercial whaling is cruel, unnecessary and threatens the survival of whale populations. Iceland believes the world has stopped caring about whales. We need to send a message loud and clear that we still care and that we do not support the resumption of commercial whaling and international trade in whale products.
Please send a protest e-mail to the Icelandic Government now by going to: http://uk.wdcs.org/go/NL061019whaling
Whale butchering station
Send a letter to Iceland tourism industries.
"I will boycott all Icelandic products and tourism in protest to your decision to flaunt international conservation law and illegally kill whales.
Iceland's decision earlier this week to resume commercial whaling despite the global moratorium on commercial whaling has already hurt the country's tourism industry, with several whale watching companies reporting cancellations. I will also encourage everyone I know to boycott all Icelandic products and tourism until you stop killing whales"
info@icetourist.is, info@saf.is, modds@icetourist.is, postur@sjr.stjr.is
SNIPPET: Senator the Hon Ian Campbell. Australia will join forces with 26 other countries to make a formal protest - called a 'demarche' - to Iceland in Reyjavik at 10am today.
"For Iceland to turn its back on the IWC so easily shows a blatant disrespect for international obligations. El Senador Ian Campbell de Australia, reune fuerzas con 26 paises para protestar de una manera formal a Islandia por decidir dar la espalda a La Comision Internacional Ballenera y no respetar sus obligaciones internacionales..."http://www.deh.gov.au/minister/env/2006/mr01nov06.html
Seven fin whales and one minke whale have already been killed since the hunt began. Fin whales have been endangered under IUCN (The World Conservation Union) guidelines since 1996, which states that three-quarters of a million fin whales were commercially hunted during the period between 1904 and 1979 alone, and the current global population is unknown.
Additionally, the U.N. Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) bans the international trade of all great whale species. And Iceland was an IWC member when the ban on commercial whaling went into effect in 1986, which it agreed to at the time.
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