Iceland's Tourism Ministry speaks out for whales

After the recent election there it would seem that the battle lines for Iceland’s soul and future are being drawn.

Iceland Review reports that further to the online campaign site Avvaz acting to try to ban the transfer of Icelandic fin whale meat through Dutch ports, the ‘Chairman of the Icelandic Travel Industry Association, Árni Gunnarsson, however, told visir.is that he is concerned about the issue. “We are concerned about whaling itself but are also worried about not just that the animals that we watch are about to be hunted but also the image of the country.”

According to Árni, whaling hurts the efforts of tourism companies in promoting whale watching.’

visir.is reports further ‘Arni says that tourism organizations have repeatedly expressed concern because whaling is allowed: “We believe it to be an anachronism and it has hurt the progress that we have been gaining in promoting Whale watching” [translation]

WDC Rob Lott was recently in Iceland helping with a celebration of whales and the ever growing Icelandic whale watching. WDC has worked to support Iceland’s whale watching industry from its earliest days and believes that it is a viable alternative to whaling as an industry that brings economic benefits to the many rather than the few.

WDC has persuaded a large number of reatilers to stop stocking fish from Grandi, the owner and operator of the fin whaling fleet and you can help by letting the Icelandic PM know that you don’t support their whaling.