Monday, October 30, 2006

Iceland breaks 21 year hunting ban

PS. You know how my last post included info about Tokyo Rose? Well it turns out, she passed away on September 26. Coincidence? Cue Twilight Zone music.

Iceland has been in the news for hunting whales after breaking a 21 year hunting ban on October 21. They harpooned and killed a fin whale, an endangered whale species. They're on the "red list" of the World Conservation Union, a network composed of 181 countries and 10 000 scientists.

Reykjavik, the capital, decided on Tuesday to catch nine fin whales and 30 minke whales in the year to August 31 2007 despite the 1985 moratorium imposed by the International Whaling Commission.

My problem with this is the fact that they're harvesting endangered whales and this might open up the door for more countries to break with the ban. An example would be Japan who backed Iceland and their move to start whaling again. Both Iceland and Japan hunt whales for research purposes but until now there hasn't been any whaling for commercial consumption. Of course, I'm sure there's been illegal whaling.

Iceland says there are about 70,000 minke whales and 25,800 fin whales in the central North Atlantic region but I'm not sure how accurate those numbers are. All I want though, is for whales to be around when I'm retired, when my hair is white and I walk with a cane. But Iceland opened up a can of whale meat and I think it's gonna cause quite a stink.

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