Iceland – 2014 minke whale hunt falls short of quota
The 2014 Icelandic minke whale hunt has killed less than 10% of their self-allocated quota. RUV, Iceland state broadcaster, reports that Iceland’s Whale hunters have failed to reach even a small percentage of their qouta, making it very likely that there will be a shortage of whale meat in Iceland this winter.
Although the Icelandic government has allocated a political total quota for its small number of remaining whalers to take 229 minke whales, only 24 were actually caught this year – less than the 36 taken in 2013. The hunt officially ends on October 30th, but the whalers don’t believe that they will catch many more whales if any at all.
Reykjavík Grapevine reports that Gunnar Bergmann Jónsson, managing director of the whaling company IP Útgerð, only sells minke whale meat domestically, but predicts that the relatively small hunt will lead to a shortage of the meat this winter.
Iceland was highly condemned at this year’s whaling commission meeting, and has been certified the U.S.A for its continued whaling outside intenational control.
Whilst only 3% of Icelanders eat whale regularly, minke whale meat has been heavily promoted amongst tourists in recent years and the low catch is likely to precipitate a shortage in Iceland’s shops and restaurants.
Please help: WDC is running a campaign to end this trade once and for all.
