A coalition of conservation and animal welfare teams are urging Iceland‘s president to step in and cease any plans the prime minister has to problem a whaling licence to Europe’s final whaler earlier than the Icelandic election on the finish of the month.
Earlier this yr, the nation granted a one-year licence to Hvalur to kill greater than 100 fin whales this searching season, regardless of hopes the observe might have been stopped after considerations about cruelty led to a brief suspension in 2023.
Hvalur is run by Kristján Loftsson, who’s in his 80s and is the final hunter of fin whales in Europe. The corporate has now utilized for an indefinite whaling licence.
Worldwide teams together with OceanCare, Whale and Dolphin Conservation, Orca, the Captain Paul Watson Basis and the Environmental Investigation Company have written to Halla Tómasdóttir, the president, to precise deep concern over the problem. Making a call on whaling throughout this transition interval would run counter to the spirit of democratic governance, significantly when polling reveals nearly all of Icelanders are towards it, they are saying.
Tómasdóttir has mentioned beforehand that the position of the momentary authorities is primarily to keep up stability till an elected authorities is in place.
Prime minister and Independence occasion chair Bjarni Benediktsson introduced in an interview two weeks in the past that Hvalur’s request could be reviewed by Jón Gunarsson, whom he appointed his particular consultant on the Ministry for Meals, Agriculture and Fisheries.
When requested if a whaling licence will probably be issued, Benediktsson responded: “If there may be time, it might probably occur.”
Gunarsson, an Independence occasion MP, was one of the crucial vocal critics of a brief whaling ban introduced in June 2023 by then minister of fisheries Svandís Svavarsdóttir, of the Left-Inexperienced occasion. Svavarsdóttir suspended whaling after a report concluded that the 2022 hunt didn’t adjust to the nation’s animal welfare laws because the whales took too lengthy – as much as two hours – to die. The ban was later dominated illegal by the parliamentary ombudsman.
Iceland has been ruled since 2021 by a coalition of the conservative Independence occasion, led by Benediktsson, the centre-right Progressive occasion, and the leftwing Left-Inexperienced motion. The coalition was dissolved in early October after coverage disagreements.
Whereas the granting of a whale licence is technically an administrative job, the problem is extremely contentious.
Of their letter to Tómasdóttir, the worldwide teams cited the current choice by Iceland to abstain from key votes on the Worldwide Whaling Fee, which it mentioned was seen by worldwide allies as a sign of a re-evaluation of whaling practices.
“We respectfully urge you to think about the potential affect {that a} hasty choice might have on Iceland’s environmental legacy and its relationship with the worldwide group” it learn. “Deferring the choice on any new whaling licences till a completely mandated authorities is in place would honour Iceland’s democratic processes and uphold the nation’s popularity as a accountable steward of marine ecosystems.”
Fin whales, the second-largest mammal on the earth, are listed as weak to extinction on the crimson listing of the Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature. Their numbers have recovered after bans on searching had been launched in lots of nations for the reason that Seventies.
In Might, Japan introduced that fin whaling might resume.
This article by Karen McVeigh was first printed by The Guardian on 7 November 2024. Lead Picture: A fin whale, the second-largest animal on the earth, within the Atlantic Ocean off the Azores. {Photograph}: By Wildestanimal/Getty Photos.
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