Iceland To Export Whale Meat to Japan
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The owner of the Icelandic whaling company that has killed seven endangered fin whales despite an international outcry said yesterday that he was now going to export the meat to Japan in defiance of a trade ban.
The chief executive of the whaling company Hvalur, Kristjan Loftsson, told the Daily Telegraph that there was “no problem” about finding markets for the meat in Japan and “no restriction on whale exports to Japan.”
It is the first time his fleet of four vessels — two British and two Norwegian — has been used since 1989. Mr. Loftsson said: “We are back in business with about 100 tons of excellent eco-friendly whale meat and blubber ready for the market.”
He added though that they had stopped whaling for this year because of bad weather and little daylight. Mr. Loftsson said he disagreed with the rationale used to list the fin whale as “endangered.”
The 60-to-70-foot fin whale, the second largest animal after the blue whale, was put on the list, the IUCN has said, because almost three-quarters of a million were taken in the southern hemisphere between 1904 and 1979, along with vast numbers of blue whales, of which fewer than 1,500 remain in the world.
