Iceland shunned over whale hunting

Iceland’s start-up of commercial whaling this summer appears to be having a dramatic effect on the country’s booming ecotourism and whale-watching holidays. One major British tour operator has reported a 25 per cent drop in bookings since the country resumed whaling last month. Iceland’s decision to resume commercial whaling comes at the most sensitive time for international whaling in a generation and threatens to set back marine conservation many years. Earlier this year, led by Japan and Norway, 30 small and poor developing countries with no real interest in whaling gained control on the International Whaling Commission, the body that regulates worldwide whaling. Spurred by Iceland, it is possible that Norway and Japan will now leave the IWC and take a number of small countries with them. At the very least, the prowhaling nations now hold the majority of votes, and the IWC may be slowly driven to abandon its conservation and welfare mandate. At the beginning of this month, Alp Mehmet, the British ambassador to Iceland, led a delegation of 25 ambassadors from anti-whaling nations to deliver a “strongly worded” letter to the country’s foreign affairs ministry. The letter urged an immediate end to the whaling saying: “We repeat our countries’ opposition to this operation and urge the government of Iceland to reconsider its position and reverse this unnecessary decision, and to abandon its current operations.” Ben Bradshaw, Britain’s fisheries minister, said after the protest: “This united action shows the depth of feeling and concern not only in Britain but all over the world about this cruel and abhorrent activity. The protest leaves “Iceland in no doubt about the strength of feeling against its decision to sidestep an international agreement to stop the killing of