translation:by Els Derho
Whale killing to quickly get out of the recession
Iceland has decided at the beginning of 2009 to a spectacular increase in whaling. In accordance with the Icelanders there are enough whales and the whaling would create jobs and a lot of money for the aproximate 320 000 residents of the virtual broke country.... In reality the plan turns out on a fiasco, where only Japanese fish traders get richer, and made the touristic sector collapse.
"We are a country of farmers and fishermen, remember", said the Island minister of fishery Steingrimur Sigfusson in defence of the decision in order to step up the whaling earlier this year. That might be correct, and we would like to add: Iceland is in any case, not a country of great economists. The persistence of Iceland to continue with the inhumane and non-sustainable whaling, has put the country completely out of step with the rest of Europe.
... Lees verder
The miracle of Reykjavík
Two years ago, the financial sector in Iceland (read three banks in this case, Kaupthing, Glitnirbank and Landsbanki), was 34% of the Icelandic economy. The miracle of Reykjavik was the essence of a failure: after the credit crisis the country was looking onto mountain of debt that was nine times greater than the gross national product. Iceland was, in other words, bankrupt. Unemployed Icelanders even called on food aid from the Red Cross.
Times six
The crisis lost Geir Haarde his prime ministership, but on the last day this controversial politician signed the decision to indrease the whaling spectacular. In one stroke of the pen the Icelandic fishermen were able to killing six times more whales. The new Minister of fishing, the President of the Icelandic left-Greens, claims not to be able to do anything to reverse the decision. In own country, the man declares not to be against the capture of whales. With this he joins to 67% of his fellow countrymen, who see nothing wrong with the slaughter of whales.
400, 000 or 10,000 whales?
Fridrik Arngrimsson, spokesman of the Icelandic fishermen, claims that the revival of the whaling will create between 200 and 300 jobs. The man also says: "whales are not threatened. That is simply nonsense. There are at least 400 000 swimming in the Icelandic waters. A food source, like all others, and we have the right to use it in order to survive. "
Those 400 000 large whales (and with that they mean huntable) is a figure which appears to be inherited by Icelandic politicians. What makes whales a special species: the only thing to increase times 5 in a financial crisis. Because, according to an official gouvernement report made a year before the credit crisis there were 68.000 swimming around the island. A figure that, according to non-Icelandic scientists and biologists, is exaggerated. They keep it at 10,000.
30 instead of 300 jobs
And also the business plan is not correct. First of all, there is the job forecast. Of the 300 promised new jobs barely 30 are filled in by the augmented whaling. In order to fill 270 other there would be ten new whale ships. That no one can pay for, and they would not render, because the truth is that there are not enough whales for so many ships in a cost-effective way to be killed off.
Topattraction
The job count is even negative. In 2008, 115 000 tourists came specially to Iceland for whale spotting. This was a direct means of living for 210 Icelanders, and we do not take into account the fact that the whale tourists also have to sleep, eat and drink. Whales were simply the tourist top attraction of the country.
Keep in mind that since the crisis in Iceland, traditionally a very expensive country, has become financially more attractive for visitors. In addition, studies all over the world show that whale tourism is one of the strongest growing sectors of the travel industry. It is therefore all the more apparent that the whale spotting-business in Iceland, as a result of the augmented whailing is to collapse.
Whales gone = tourists gone
"It is very simple," says Heimir Hardarson, Marketing Manager for whale spotting operator North Sailing in Husavik to Planet watch. Since the whaling was resumed, on less than half of our efforts we get to see one. Before that we spotted some on 95% of our trips. " According to Rannveig Gretarsdottir, Manager at Elding, a whale watching operator in Reykjavik, the number of whales in the Icelandic sea is strongly exaggerated.
"Even at the number 10,000 I have my doubts. If there are so many, shouldn’t we see them? We are constantly on the water and we barely see 300 per year. These animals must come up to breathe, right? ". In addition, according to Gretarsdottir, whalers choose to kill the species that are the easiest to approach , of course, that’s also for the whale watch operators the same species which are the most interesting to the tourists.
Not only the fact that the whaling is chasing the animals away is playing tricks on the tourism sector. Also the image side falls into chunks. "The British and the Germans are already staying away," says Gretarsdottir. "They do not want to come to a country that is killing whales."
"Cultural tradition"
The Government in Reykjavik sees it all a little different. "That some countries and groups opposed to the killing of whales, it is up to them. In Iceland the whaling is an accepted cultural tradition. As long as the fishing is sustainable, other countries are not entitled to dictate their different cultural views to Iceland ", the Icelandic Government states.
This cultural tradition, is rather less involved as it turns out. Studies showed that only 1.1% of Icelanders eat whale meat only one or more times per week, while 82,4% of 16-24 year-olds never eat whale meat. When Iceland in 2006, as the Japanese, under the pretext of scientific research, after 13 years slowly began to slaughter to whales again, the meat ended up in the supermarket, under a great deal of interest from the media. Many Icelanders tried it, but they did not return for a second portion.
Of to Japan with it
Not really an interesting market, unless you are exporting the whale meat. For example, to Japan. In 2008, Iceland exported 71 tons of whale meat to the fish crazy country. This year it will be 1 500 to 2 000 tons. There, already some whales end as cat and dog food. Japan has a "whale mountain" built of at least 5 000 tons. The frozen meat is waiting for the consumer. A new campaign, aimed at school children, has to help clear the mountain.
Whale state between Iceland and the EU
The restart of the whaling is not only bad for the tourist sector and hardly any jobs, it is a huge obstacle of something which is of vital importance for Iceland: accession to the European Union, and enter into the euro. Iceland will have take into account the EU rules on fishing (and therefore the force for the total prohibition of Whaling). It will be the most important negotiating point to a possible accesion. Iceland will need to agree for the first time to a policy that it has always condemned and that even led to four cod wars in the last 40 years. The large quotas-scam
In addition, it appears that the hobbyhorse of the Icelanders, namely the imposition of fishing quotas on the basis of scientific data, rather than by political agreements between Member States, in the end, didn’t make much difference.
The fishing industry will deny it persistently, but the truth is that there no sustainable fishing in the Icelandic waters. The same techniques that the most destructive sector in our history apply throughout the world to fish our oceans empty, are ultimately also applied by the Icelanders.
No more cod by 2015
Since 1992, it is forbidden to fish cod in Canada for it’s almost completely disappeared. 17 years later, the cod are still not recovered. The same situation in Iceland, the North Sea and the North Atlantic waters. No later than 2015, that will also be the case
Translated by Els Derho