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26 October 2006
U.S. Ambassador Raises Concerns About Iceland's Whaling Plan
Van Voorst meeting with Icelandic officials over restart of commercial whaling
Washington – U.S. Ambassador to Iceland Carol van Voorst personally conveyed to Iceland’s fisheries minister, Einar Gudfinnsson, in Reykjavik, Iceland, October 26 the United States’ concern and deep disappointment over Iceland’s announcement that it will resume commercial whaling after a two-decade moratorium.
Van Voorst called on the government of Iceland to reconsider its decision and cease resumption of commercial whaling, according to the State Department’s Office of Oceans Affairs. The ambassador also plans to meet with Iceland’s foreign minister, Valgerdur Sverrisdottir, on October 30. In addition, the United States is working with a number of other nations in the International Whaling Commission (IWC) on a joint statement of concern.
Iceland’s fisheries ministry announced October 17 that it would issue permits to hunt 39 whales for commercial purposes for the year ending August 31, 2007, including nine fin whales and 30 minke whales. This is in addition to the 39 minke whales permitted to be taken in 2007 under Iceland's scientific research whaling plan. Both species are protected under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Following that announcement, William Hogarth, the U.S. commissioner to the IWC, “talked with his Icelandic IWC counterpart and expressed the United States’ displeasure,” said Scott Smullen, spokesman for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The United States is “sending a signal that we are taking this seriously,” Smullen told the Washington File October 20.
Hogarth indicated to Gudfinnsson that Iceland’s action will be the focus of a U.S. government interagency meeting in December led by NOAA, Smullen said.
The interagency group is reviewing appropriate U.S. actions toward the three whaling countries – Japan, Norway and Iceland, he said. The meeting had been scheduled before Iceland’s announcement.
“Iceland’s and Japan’s scientific whaling were on the agenda, but now Iceland’s escalation to commercial whaling will now be on the table,” Smullen said.
The United States objects to Iceland’s claim exempting itself from IWC's worldwide moratorium on commercial whale hunting established in 1986. Iceland withdrew from the IWC in 1992 but rejoined in 2002 with a reservation, or objection, to the moratorium. Seventeen other countries have lodged objections to Iceland’s reservation.
In 2004 the United States certified Iceland as a country that is undermining the effectiveness of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling and the IWC’s conservation program through its lethal research whaling program initiated in 2003. The United States has objected strongly and repeatedly to Iceland’s research whaling program.
The certification of Iceland, taken under what is called the Pelly Amendment to the U.S. Fishermen's Protective Act of 1967, authorizes the president to impose sanctions, specifically prohibiting imports of fish and fish products from certified countries.
President Bush decided in 2004 not to impose sanctions on Iceland. The Pelly certification remains active, however. (See related article.)
Ambassador van Voorst, in her meeting with the Icelandic fisheries minister, pointed out that Iceland stipulated, when rejoining the IWC, that “under no circumstances will whaling for commercial purposes be authorized in Iceland without a sound scientific basis and an effective management and enforcement scheme.” However, details of such a scheme were lacking in Iceland’s October 17 announcement, and there was no scientific justification for Iceland’s self-assigned whaling quota, van Voorst said.
The United States believes that Iceland’s reservation to the moratorium and its decision to resume commercial whaling “will only serve to further polarize and splinter” the IWC, van Voorst said during the meeting, according to the Office of Oceans Affairs.
The United States is concerned that “there are no international management measures in place to monitor a commercial hunt,” NOAA’s Smullen said. “The hunts would be conducted without transparency or compliance measures in place.”
IWC's Scientific Committee estimates that the worldwide population of fin whales numbers about 30,000, but that is based on data more than 25 years old, Smullen said. The population estimate for North Atlantic minke whales is 174,000.
An ongoing scientific analysis of the North Atlantic stock of fin whales, requested of the IWC by Iceland in 2006, is “expected to take several years,” he said. There is currently no international scientific advice on quotas for fin whales in the North Atlantic.
Iceland “is going in the wrong direction on this issue,” said Commerce Secretary Gutierrez in an October 17 statement. Iceland’s decision will be closely reviewed and the United States “will look at options to further promote the conservation of whales and the environment” in consultation with other countries and relevant groups, he said.
Iceland commercially sells the meat derived from research whaling, and recently has exported half a ton of this meat to the Faroe Islands. The United States directly approached the Icelandic government and called on it to stop exports immediately, according to the Office of Oceans Affairs.
IWC is the global body charged with responsibility for the international conservation and management of whale stocks and the regulation of whaling. It was established by the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling in 1948. Hogarth was elected by consensus to the chairmanship of the IWC in 2006 and will lead next year’s meeting set to take place in Anchorage, Alaska, in May.
The full text of Gutierrez’ and Hogarth’s October 17 statements are available on the Web site of the U.S. Embassy in Reykjavik.
More information about the Pelly Amendment to the U.S. Fisherman's Protective Act of 1967 and the certification of a country under this amendment is available on the NOAA Web site, as is additional information about the Marine Mammals Protection Act.
For more information about U.S. conservation efforts, see Environment.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
