Lögberg-Heimskringla - 17.11.1989, Síða 2

2 • Lögberg - Heimskringla • Föstudagur 17. nóvember 1989
A hunter with nothing to hunt
Minke whalers iobby to
resume work
Tve lived all my life in this little vil-
lage in harmony with the world of nature,
taldng my modest share from the riches
of nature, then suddenly a load of foreign-
ers come over and say I’m not allowed to
live any more.”
Gunnlaugur Konráðsson is under-
standably bitter as he packs stockfish
produced from his small quota of cod in a
little harbourside storage room in Litli-
Árskógssandur (pop. 114), downthefjord
from Akureyri in north Iceland.
Four years earlier, he was freezing
his last consignment of minke whale meat
for the domestic and Japanese markets,
before his small-time traditional opera-
tion was classed as commercial whaling
and suspended by the International
Whaling Commission.
Along with other small-time former
minke hunters, Konráðsson recently
founded the Federation of Minke Whal-
ers to draw attention to their plight: “How
can you live by the sea if you’re not al-
lowed to catch anything?” he asks.
Iceland’s ministry of fisheries intends
to work towards IWC recognition - and
hopefully a limited quota - for small-time
operators, with the creation of a new
“middle” whaling category between abo-
riginal hunting solely for local consump-
tion, which is allowed, and commercial
whaling, which is not.
Kjartan Júlíusson, an official at the
ministry of fisheries, says the ministry
would like to see representatives of the
former minke whalers on Iceland’s dele-
gation to the IWC.
“Minke whaling as it was practiced in
Iceland ought not to be mixed up with
commercial operationsfor larger whales,”
says Konráðsson. “It was more than sub-
sistence, but only on a large enough scale
to guarantee a few people a decent living.
“I used to hunt 30- 60 minkes a season
and the 150-200 we caught between us
each year had no effect on the stocks,” he
continues. Recent surveys suggest that
the Iceland-Jan Mayen-Eastern Greenland
minke whale stock numbers close 18,000
animals, which Konráðsson feels might
be a conservative estimate: “I for one have
never seen as many as the last season
before they banned the hunt.
“Nature plays rough up here. We know
and respect the fact that if you take too
FAMILYl FUNERAL
COUNSELLORS
much from nature then it’s simply your
own throat that you’re cutting.
“I regard myself as a hardline conser-
vationist. People from big cities who call
us cold-blooded murderers don’t under-
stand the depth of the relationship be-
tween a hunter and his prey, which is
based on respect, on genuine affection.
Conservation, to those people, doesn’t
seem to include conserving the way man
has always lived here.”
Hunting minke whale is a tough busi-
ness, claims Konráðsson, and on a small
28-ton boat like his, the laws of nature set
their own quotas. “You need really calm
weather, since minke is hard to find when
there’s more than just a ripple on the
water, in stronger winds than force two or
three.”
It takes one shot or two to kill the
minke, which is typically nine feet long,
and then the boat has to retum to land it’s
catch. Konráðsson says he spent only 30
days of the three-month season at sea
during the last year before the ban took
effect.
His openness and strong attachment
to nature has won Konráðsson the respect
even of many anti-whaling activists. Be-
forethehuntwasbanned,herecalls, some
Icelanders asked to go out with him and
film the action.
Back on land, one of them admitted
they had been collecting material for a
film about the brutality of whaling. “The
lad told me, “You let us down. We came
looking for blood but didn’t see any.’ Ap-
parently he stopped campaigning against
whaling afterwards,” Konrádsson laughs.
“Another time I went to Reykjavík for
a public meeting on the pros and cons of
whaling, and Greenpeace and other groups
sent delegations over from Europe.
“Some of the party introduced them-
selves to me and said they had no idea
there even were any traditional hunters in
Iceland. Alot of anti-whaling groups try to
ignore the small-time operators because
it wouldn’t serve their cause if people
found out about us.”
His paltry 60-ton quota of cod for the
year was almost finished by mid-summer.
“Ican’tgoonlikethisforlong,”Konráðsson
admitted. “If I don’t get a minke whale
quota soon, I’ll give up and move away.”
“W orst of all is knowing that the sea’s
full of whale, it makes me itch all over. I try
notto thinkaboutit. I can’tevencatch one
to eat - the meat’s delicious.”
And what will he do for the rest of the
year? “Be unemployed, I suppose. As a
last resort I could always go and work for
Greenpeace. I hear they pay much better
money than I could ever make catching
whales.”
Courtesy of News from lceland
Aðalsteinn Ingólfsson
at the University of
Manitoba
Monday, October 30, 1989 at 7:30
p.m. in the Elizabeth Dafoe Library at the
U. of M., a lecture and art display was
given by Aðalsteinn Ingólfsson. It wa s a
great social event. After a brief intoduc-
tion to the man and his extensive back-
ground, he spoke on, and showed slides
of “naive” and “fantastic” art by various
Icelandic artists. Afterwards, his bookand
Icelandic art works were free for viewing
and a wine and cheese reception offered a
chance to meet Mr. Ingólfsson and mingle
with the Icelandic community.
About forty people attended the event
which was sponsored by the Department
of Icelandic Language and Literature, the
Department of Archives and Special Col-
lections, and the Icelandic Canadian Frón,
the Winnipeg Chapter of the Icelandic
National League of North America.
Overall, it was an enjoyable evening,
open to all who could make it.
Submitted by Daurn Peters
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