I no longer care that is a beautiful place that bred Bjork, Iceland are assholes.
Iceland resumes whale exports
Iceland is resuming whale meat exports after a gap of more than 15 years, despite objections from environmentalists that the shipments undermine a global trade ban.
Iceland's whaling commissioner Stefan Asmundsson says the country has started selling whale meat to the Faroe Islands.
"We have created a joint trade area between Iceland and the Faroe Islands," he said.
"There is free trade within that area and whale products are simply one item therein.
"We don't have a limit but I would be surprised if exports this year reached one tonne.
Iceland has caught 60 minke whales in the north Atlantic in 2006 as part of a scientific research program.
It resumed whaling in 2003, despite a global moratorium on hunts imposed two decades ago by the International Whaling Commission.
Mr Asmundsson says it has not exported meat since some sales to Japan around 1990.
Japan and Norway also harpoon minke whales, arguing stocks of the small whales are plentiful, unlike those of endangered species, such as the giant blue whale.
The meat is usually eaten as steaks.
Sales legal
Mr Asmundsson says the sales are legal, even though trade in whales is banned under the UN's Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Norway, Japan and Iceland have exempted themselves from the CITES restrictions.
"The Faroe Islands are not covered by CITES," he said.
The Faroes, a self-governing region of Denmark, have a population of almost 50,000 on islands between Scotland and Iceland.
But some environmentalists say the sales violate the spirit of CITES because Denmark is a signatory and handles foreign policy for the islands.
Iceland Nature Conservation Association spokesman Arni Finnsson said: "This flies in the face of the intention of CITES".
"Whether it's illegal is a technical interpretation but it undermines the letter of the law," he said.
Mr Asmundsson says Iceland's whaling research is coming to an end - about 160 minke whales have been caught of a planned total of 200 set in 2003.
He says that there are no current plans for a new research program.
- Reuters
from
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems...9/s1736886.htm 
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