Stuffed Animals

     Put that way, “scientific whaling” seems logical. But what about the wider picture for this small nation resuming what many see as a barbaric practice: killing the world’s largest charismatic mammals.

     For a start, anti-whaling groups do not believe the figures given for the number of whales or the quantity of fish they eat, and still believe that all whales need protection. Apart from that, the decision to resume whaling has baffled many people who see it as a short route to economic suicide. It is only 14 years ago that Iceland stopped whaling, after the first successful international consumer boycott. Millions of people simply stopped buying Icelandic products, nearly all fish. Environment groups, particularly Greenpeace, then enormously powerful, successfully lobbied fish importers, who decided to buy from other sources.

     Then, as now, the nations that eat most Icelandic fish – the UK, Germany and the US – have the strongest anti-whaling stance, and even larger numbers of consumers than before belong to environment and animal welfare groups opposed to whaling. Once the anti-Icelandic bandwagon starts rolling, the argument goes, Iceland will soon feel the economic pinch.

     Things might not be quite so simple this time, however. The UK imported 12,000 tonnes of Icelandic fish last year and it would not be easy to find alternative supplies. Without Icelandic supplies, fish and chip shops would be hard put to stay in business, since North Sea catches of cod and haddock continue to plummet. Norway, another whaling nation, and New Zealand, strongly opposed to whaling but with finite stocks, are the only other alternative sources of supply. Read the rest of this entry »

     In November, Taiji fishermen erected barriers around the killing ground in an attempt to block the view of the film crews. Even so, the filmmakers were able to document the capture and killing of 12 additional dolphins.

     Blue Voice, another environmental group which has filmed past killings, reports area fishermen are trying to force the environmentalists out of town. Local shops will not sell food to the group and it’s difficult for them to find lodging.

     Some of the fishermen have even urinated in front of the female members of the environmental group. Recently, several members of the group have been attacked by the fishermen and Blue Voice says they will press charges.

     Sea Shepherd has a crew on a daily 24-hour watch of the Taiji harbor to prevent further departures of the Japanese dolphin fleet. Sea Shepherd says they have called for reinforcements to help continue their efforts.

     In 1979, environmental filmmakers arrived too late to document the killing of dolphins on Iki Island off the southwest coast of Japan. They believed from the evidence of the blood soaked beaches that hundreds of animals had been killed.

     The following year, the crews arrived in time to document the dolphin killings. Films made that year by Hardy Jones of Blue Voice and Howard Hall were quickly dispatched, stirring a global protest which stopped the killing of dolphins in Japan until 1987 when it was resumed on a limited basis. Read the rest of this entry »