A day on Viðey

Just a 5 minute ferry ride from the city centre is the tranquil little island of Viðey. Pictures will tell you the rest.

Peaceful Whaling Protest in Hvalafjörður

On Iceland's day of Independence the first fin whale of the whaling season is brought for processing at the whaling station at the end of Hvalfjörður, SW Iceland. IFAW, ICEWHALE and SEEDS gathered their troops to peacefully protest this action, with banners asking the question “what’s the point?” and statements such as “Don’t let your visit to Iceland leave a bad taste in your mouth, choose a whale friendly restaurant”.

Iceland has been hunting whales since the late 1940's before this Norway was the main whaling body hunting whales in Icelandic waters. The whaling station in Hvalfjörður has been processing whales since 1948. Currently, Iceland has a quota of 154 fin whales per year and these are processed and then exported to Japan. Fin whales are the second largest of all whales and classified as Endangered by the IUCN. 

The question ‘what’s the point?’ refers to the fact that the market in Japan has been decreasing and has even been reported, by IFAW, WDCS and EIA amongst others, that the meat has been used as dog food. The transportation of these products to Japan is also costly, time consuming and legally restrictive. The WDCS states on their website that “During 2009 and 2010, exports of whale oil to Norway and other frozen products to Japan were conducted under their respective reservations to the CITES Appendix I listing of whales, while a shipment of whale meat to Latvia in early 2010 violated both CITES and European Union laws”.

So definitely begs the question, What’s the Point?