APNewsBreak: US mulls sanctions against Iceland
By DAVID Mac DOUGALL, Associated Press – 4 hours ago
HELSINKI (AP) — The United States is set to announce possible trade and diplomatic sanctions against Iceland for ramping up its whale hunts despite an international moratorium on commercial whaling.
The Obama administration on Wednesday will cite Iceland under a domestic law that allows the president to
act Read More
A new movement of consciousness amongst Icelanders is gaining momentum. From meetings with the prominent and politically connected, to students from the universities, a small movement of pro whale watching and anti whaling advocates has been formed. This movement will focus on a powerful pro whale watching campaign which challenges the whaling and fishing industry’s false statements that promote the killing of whales. Just as the financial sectors of Iceland and U.S. claimed they should be trusted with financial investments prior to and throughout this worldwide economic collapse, the whaling and fisheries industry of Iceland claim they should be trusted with the international whale population. The scientific advisors to the Fisheries and Whaling industries of Iceland are submissive to the Chairman and other Executives of the Fisheries, which also happens to be the owners of the largest whaling company in Iceland. The scientists for the Marine Research Institute of Iceland (MRI) are incentivized by the Ministry of Fisheries, The Federation of Icelandic Fishing Vessel Owners (LIU), and The Confederation of Icelandic Employers (SA) to produce scientific study results that support whaling. Just like the incentives that caused the global economic crisis, these incentives for the MRI scientist will contribute to the collapse of worldwide whale species.
This new group of pro whale watching and anti whaling advocates are fully aware that the whaling industry is controlled by a few wealthy individuals and can be toppled with a strategic attack. The movement is gaining momentum alongside the whale watching industry. Whaling will fall in Iceland and it’s only a matter of months before the owners of the whaling companies and their supporters in the Parliament and Fisheries will succumb to the same slow, painful end that they have given time and again to the whales of our world.
If you would like to join the movement, please email us at tim@keepingwhalesalive.org
Japan’s whaling fleet on the run
January 22, 2011
Hunted … the anti-whaling vessel Steve Irwin pursues the Japanese whaling fleet earlier this month. The future of Japan’s Antarctic industry hangs in the balance, writes Andrew Darby.
IN THE shadows of intent, somewhere between harmless fireworks and deadly force, lies the whaling conflict in the Antarctic. At one end of this spectrum are the stink bombs thrown against water jets. At the other is the near fatal collision involving the Ady Gil. Among all this piratical colour
A report from fisheries newspaper Minato Shinbun on Monday, January 24, 2011 discussed a press conference held on January 20 by Kyodo Senpaku, the Japan Whaling Association, and the Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR), where the three bodies outlined the many serious problems facing the whaling industry. Kazuo Murayama, the CEO of Kyodo Senpaku and the head of the Japan Whaling Association said “annual sales have decreased 30% during the first half of [2010] (fiscal year)” and mentioned that the JWA’s activities may be decreased as a result. The ICR announced that it has reduced the number of its executive directors to one. Yoshihiro Fujise, who was appointed as the first “proper” (he is a scientist promoted from within the ICR, not a retired FAJ executive) Executive Director of ICR since Nov 30 2010, also explained that the financial model of covering the research costs by selling whale meat as a “byproduct” of the research no longer worked.
Lloyd’s Seaweb lists the status of the Hiyo Maru, the ship used to refuel the fleet and offload whale meat at sea, as “broken up” as of 2 September 2010. A document given to the International Whaling Commission’s Scientific Committee (SC/62/O17) lists the Yushin-Maru 3 as being dedicated to the sightings survey. Another document (SC/62/O3) reported that in the 2009-10 season, the Yushin-Maru 3 was used only for sightings and did not hunt. The 2009-10 season was the first in which only two catchers were used since the programme began in 1987.
Whale meat storage figures:
2010: http://www.market.jafic.or.jp/suisan/
2009 & earlier:
http://www.maff.go.jp/j/tokei/kouhyou/suisan_ryutu/reizou_ryutu/index.html#m
Friday, January 28, 2011 | By Science
(Greenpeace International)
Japanese whaling will come to an end – the question is simply when
Blogpost by Junichi Sato – January 28, 2011 at 16:01
On December 22, 2010 – the Fisheries Agency of Japan (FAJ) acknowledged and publicly apologised for embezzlement within the whaling industry. An official from the powerful agency gave a 90 degree bow of apology on national television and explained that five officers were being punished for accepting around 272,000 Yen (approximately $3,000 USD) worth of whale meat `gifts’.
This is hard evidence that Read More
Nineteen conservation and animal welfare groups, representing tens of millions of U.S. citizens, today called on the US Secretaries of Commerce and Interior to impose trade sanctions against Iceland for its escalating defiance of international conservation agreements on commercial whaling.
A petition filed by the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) on behalf of the ‘Whales Need US’ coalition and Species Survival Network, urges Secretaries Locke and Salazar to invoke U.S. conservation legislation known as the Pelly Amendment against Iceland, a move that could deal a death blow to Iceland’s out of control whaling industry.
The Pelly Amendment authorizes Read More
Icelandic whaling company Hvalur has exported 500-600 tons of fin whale meat to Japan this year, according to the Japanese news agency Kyodo. The reports from Kyodo or estimations and claimed to be inaccurate by Iceland’s Statistics Agency.
According to information from the Japanese Ministry of Finance, Read More
25.11.2010 | 11:47
US Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke has sent a letter to Icelandic Minister of Fisheries Jón Bjarnason where he criticizes Iceland’s whaling, reasoning that there is no market for whale products and that whaling is therefore unnecessary.
In the letter, Locke said he is hoping for further discussions on whaling with Iceland. “We are prepared to Read More
Icelanders may appear sceptical about joining the EU, but the country needs the European Union more than the other way around, Estonian MEP Indrek Tarand (Greens/European Free Alliance), a member of the EU-Iceland joint parliamentary committee, told EurActiv in an exclusive interview. Read More