Reykjavík Grapevine - 20.05.2011, Page 8

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 6 — 2011
Iceland | Whaling
Whale watching attracts
more tourists than any other
tourist activity in Reykja-
vík. Tourists who go whale
watching are mostly against
whaling and come from anti-
whaling nations. Yet, by the
time they find themselves on
a whale watching boat, 19%
say they have already eaten
whale and the majority say
they would eat whale for cul-
tural and historical reasons.
This is a paradox that anti-whaler Sig-
ursteinn Másson would like to tackle.
A former journalist, Sigursteinn has
been working for the International Fund
For Animal Welfare (IFAW) since 2003,
when Iceland—after a 24-year hiatus—
resumed whaling again. The Grapevine
met up with Sigursteinn to learn more
about whaling in Iceland and his efforts
to stop the practice.
So Iceland stopped whaling for 24
years. Why did it start up again?
When Iceland stopped whaling in 1989,
politicians and the public were not
happy about it. There were a lot of dis-
cussions about in Alþingi; the whaling
camp in Iceland has always had lobbies
in the political parties.
The public has shown little interest
in the issue. When people are asked,
they say they are pro-whaling like they
are pro-Iceland. It’s not because they
have thought so much about it, or be-
cause they have studied the issue; it’s
out of patriotism. In recent years, I have
been trying to find ways to address this,
to reach an understanding that people
can support Iceland without supporting
whaling.
Do you think that Icelanders are
mostly thinking of jobs and the
economy? Or is it really a patriotic
thing?
I think people are realising more and
more that this argument, that whal-
ing is creating so many jobs and that
it is economically viable, is wrong. But
I think people still believe that whales
should be killed like any other animal.
People often compare whaling to the
slaughtering of cows or chicken. From
an animal welfare perspective, we can’t
justify the inhumane killings of whales
by pointing to something that is bad
elsewhere. As soon as Icelanders re-
alise that, I am sure we will have a dif-
ferent situation.
You’ve been working on this for
eight years. How’s it going?
There have been ups and downs. I have
to admit, there was a backlash in 2008
with the economic collapse. People
turned back to basic attitudes and val-
ues of the past. In many ways it was
very good, but in other ways it was not.
For instance, the national sentiment be-
came more pro-whaling after the crash
compared to the year before the crash.
But I think people are realising that
whaling is not very economical, and
that minke whaling is disastrous for the
whale watching business here in Reyk-
javík. It’s by far the biggest tourism ac-
tivity in Reykjavík. So having the minke
whalers here in the same Faxaflói Bay
killing the same minke is just absurd.
What do you think of Animal Plan-
et’s reality TV show, ‘Whale Wars,’
which documents the Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society’s struggle to
end whaling? What do you think of
their tactics?
They may very well have achieved their
goal in the South Pacific. Although
I have never seen the programme—I
guess it makes for good television—I
prefer a more civilised and sophisti-
cated approach like we have been do-
ing here. I don’t think Iceland would be
whaling today if the Sea Shepherd had
not sunk two whaling boats here [Sea
Shepherd founder Paul Watson sank
two whaling vessels in the Reykjavík
harbour in 1986].
It was like a terrorist attack on Ice-
land. It made Icelanders determined to
never give in. When IFAW, a forty-year
old organization, came here eight years
ago, it was considered a terrorist group.
We are now considered a reliable part-
ner by the government. We take a very
soft approach to this issue. We engage
in dialogue rather than a typical cam-
paign calling for sanctions and things
like that.
So the organisation is more about
dialogue—how do you reach indi-
viduals?
This summer we will go further in rais-
ing the issue publicly in Iceland and
targeting foreign visitors. What has
happened is that more and more res-
taurants are offering whale meat on
their menu. Two years back there were
only a couple of restaurants doing it.
The strange thing is that tourists, who
are mostly ordering it, say they are op-
posed to whaling when asked. They
also come from countries that are to-
tally against whaling.
A scientist conducted a survey on
boats of a whale watching company in
Reykjavík. She asked 1500 tourists who
were going whale watching some ques-
tions. It turned out that 19% had already
eaten whale meat in Iceland before go-
ing whale watching, and a majority of
tourists said they would taste it out of
cultural and historical reasons.
The situation in which foreign tour-
ists who oppose whaling are keeping
minke whaling alive in Iceland is very
ironic. This is an issue that we will spe-
cifically work on, and we will be intro-
ducing a campaign in the beginning of
June. We wouldn’t organise a boycott,
but we just think that every person
should think twice about what they or-
der, so that they are not contributing to
whaling.
I’ve never thought of whaling as be-
ing part of Icelandic culture…
And it isn’t in fact. To explain a bit, the
commercial whaling, killing big whales,
only started around mid last century
with Icelanders. And then there was
a twenty-four year break. The history
of minke whaling is a little bit longer,
about thirty years longer. So this is
something that tourists coming to Ice-
land should realise. Whaling is not part
of Iceland’s history. Commercial whal-
ing of big whales has been conducted
by a single family in Iceland. The father,
Loftur, started the company and then
his son, Kristján Loftsson, took over the
business. So that has been a single-
family business.
According to a Gallup poll, only
3-5% of Icelanders eat whale meat
regularly. It is neither historically im-
portant, nor is it a part of the heritage,
nor is it a big part of the culture. So you
can say that when it is introduced to our
foreign guests in Iceland as historically
important and a part of the culture, that
Icelanders eat it regularly—that is false.
What’s the ultimate goal of the
campaign that you are launching?
Of course the ultimate goal is to have
whaling in Iceland a part of its history,
where it belongs, and to have respon-
sible whale watching as the only whale
business in Iceland. That should be the
aim.
Now that Japan and Iceland have
stopped fin whaling, I think there is an
historical chance to do things right. If
there is any animal on Earth that we can
look at and say, we have really treated
you badly through the centuries, it is
the whale. We hunted some of them to
extinction and others to endangerment.
The hunting has been extremely cruel.
It can take up to an hour to kill a whale
after the first harpoon hits. It’s com-
pletely unnecessary.
I see the whale as symbol of the
connection between nature and hu-
mans; if we can stop whaling, humanity
has grown.
Words
Anna Andersen
Photography
Maroesjka Lavigne
Whale Watching Tourists Eating Whale
Anti-whaling advocate Sigursteinn Másson interviewed
Mountaineers of Iceland • Skútuvogur 12E • 104 Reykjavík • Iceland
Telephone: +354 580 9900 Ice@mountaineers.is • www.mountaineers.is • www. activity.is
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