| Date posted 2009-01-30 |
Iceland - Please do not resume whaling |
| On January 27th 2009, out-going Icelandic Minister of Fisheries, Einar K. Gudfinsson, issued a whaling quota for 150 endangered fin whales and at least 100 minke whales a year, to run from 2009 until 2013. Despite the moratorium on commercial whaling, and the ban on international trade in whale products, Iceland has opted – once again - to defy world opinion in order to gain a quick profit from killing these magnificent animals. We need your help to help us in this fight to save Iceland’s fins and minkes from the whalers’ harpoons, and to ensure that whale watching continues to bring vital revenue to Iceland’s floundering economy. |
|
Step 1: Please fill in your details (on the right) Step 2: Read the text and add your personalized message (please keep your language firm but polite) Step 3: Send! (and forward this link to friends, family, colleagues or anyone who you think will be concerned). |
| To: Honorable Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir |
|
I am writing to protest the recent decision by former Fisheries Minister, Einar K. Guðfinnsson, to reauthorise commercial whaling by Iceland. The decision by Mr. Guðfinnsson to issue quotas for 150 fin whales and at least 100 minke whales for the years 2009 to 2013 is unacceptable to me and to the majority of the world community.
I fear that the previous government’s decision to resume large-scale whaling will have damaging repercussions at the very time when your new government seeks to strengthen ties with the international community. Whaling will not only threaten whale populations that the rest of the world wants protected, but it will alienate potential tourists and jeopardise Iceland’s previously lucrative whale-watching industry. Whales are worth far more to Iceland alive than dead; just nine whale watchers can provide the income equal in value to one dead minke whale. Furthermore, the market for whale meat that your whalers look to in Japan is drying up as demand falls; just this week shops in Japan had to cut the price of whale meat by half to sell meat from Japan’s own heavily-subsidised whaling operations. Finally, I know that many people like me will be unwilling to consider buying Icelandic fish products from sources that are linked in any way to the support of whaling. I am aware that Iceland has had a great deal of internal debate on this issue, and that many of the Ministers in the previous government, including both the Foreign Minister and the Environment Minister have expressed [strong] concerns about whaling. For example, the Environment Minister has rightly pointed out that the argument that whales need to be hunted in order to protect fish stocks is an over-simplification of a complex ecosystem in which both fish and whales are impacted by pollution, over-fishing and climate change. Please, Ms. Prime Minister, make this a matter of utmost urgency for your new government, and show the world that Iceland is looking to the future, not the past, to ensure its stability at this difficult time. Please revoke these whaling permits immediately. Yours sincerely |
| Your addition to the letter |
| [Your Name and Address will be inserted here] |
|
|
Further information:
Read our reports
Sign up for our newsletter
Read our blogs
