One hundred and thirty tonnes of fin whale meat have been sent back to Iceland from the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.The large returned shipment, which was due to be exported to Japan, will be viewed as a major success for animal rights groups, who claim the trade is “pointless”
The resumption of commercial fin whaling in Iceland is immoral, according to Greenpeace. Icelandic whaler Kristján Loftsson’s company Hvalur, which is backed by the country’s government, plans to catch as many as 180 fin whales over the summer months.
US President Barack Obama has instructed officials to continue applying pressure on Iceland to comply with the whaling moratorium introduced by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1986.
Obama, in a note to his cabinet officers, said senior delegations and officials meeting with the Icelandic government’s representatives should remind them that if the North Atlantic nation wants to cooperate with the US then it must change its policy on whaling.
The president’s memo comes just two months after Interior Secretary Sally Jewell released a statement expressing her concern over the fact Iceland continues to defy the IWC’s moratorium. Back in September 2011, Obama also said his cabinet should give the matter the “highest level of attention”.