Iceland review - 2016, Page 74

72 ICELAND REVIEW
CAPTAIN AHAB’S LIFEBUOY
Icelandic fishing magnate Kristján
Loftsson is, as he calls himself, “the only
guy who still hunts fin whales”—the sec-
ond largest animal after blue whales—for
commercial purposes and is sometimes
referred to by his adversaries as the last
Captain Ahab (a character in Moby-Dick
who is obsessed with killing an immense
whale) of our times. He is the managing
director of whaling company Hvalur
hf., founded by his father in 1948, and
one of the richest individuals in Iceland.
Kristján got involved in the business
when he was 13, and now, almost 60
years later, after a 20-year break due to
the International Whaling Commission’s
commercial moratorium, tries to keep
the family enterprise afloat. “I couldn’t
care less,” he replies when asked what
he thinks of the diplomatic insurrection
against his country. “They [US govern-
ment officials] have sent many letters to
Norway, but nothing happened. I don’t
see it as a problem if they stay at home.”
In 2015, Hvalur hf. caught 155 fin
whales and shipped 1,700 tons of meat
to Japan, which is its only sales mar-
ket. Despite the public’s questioning the
profitability of Kristján’s endeavor, he
insists that it satisfies him: “It’s about a
few hundred million krónur per year.
We are not in the red. I will continue as
long as it is commercially viable,” he says,
describing its viability as “okay.”
According to the company’s financial
statement, Hvalur hf. lost at least ISK
73 million (USD 553,000) on its whal-
ing operations in 2014. Fin and minke
whales are protected by the Convention
on International Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES). Iceland holds a res-
ervation to its Appendix I listing of
eight cetaceans—Japan, Norway, the
Caribbean nation of Saint Vincent and
the Grenadines and the Micronesian
archipelago of Palau also hold reserva-
tion to a number of these marine mam-
mals—providing it with legal grounds
to maintain what Icelanders deem their
right to hunt them. The transportation
of fin whale meat products has however
proved to be difficult for the country,
says Árni Finnsson, chairman of Iceland’s
Nature Conservation Association. The
ports of Rotterdam and Hamburg—
Europe’s busiest—have refused to par-
ticipate. “In 2013 it [the whale meat] was
sent back to Iceland by the governments
of the Netherlands and Germany,” Árni
points out. “Eimskip and Samskip, the
two Icelandic shipping companies, are
no longer providing their services to him
[Kristján], simply because they want to
keep more important customers happy.”
Nevertheless, since whaling is just a
tiny fraction of Kristján’s empire, the
losses are covered by other revenues.
Last year, Hvalur hf. earned ISK 3 billion
by virtue of its large share in investment
company Vogun hf., which possesses a
third of HB Grandi, the country’s biggest
fishing giant.
WHALE HUNTING VS. WHALE
WATCHING

In Reykjavík’s Old Harbor, you are invit-
ed to meet the majestic cetaceans and
to taste them. In adjacent Faxaflói bay,
renowned for its high density of minke
whales, whalers often hunt on the edge
of the whale watching area. While the
minke whaling boats begin processing
the meat at sea, dumping the waste into
the water before returning to land to
further divide and season the meat, it
is the fin whaling boats heading to the
processing station in Hvalfjörður, with
the whale carcasses fastened by the tail to
the side of the vessel, which usually grab
tourists’ attention. “Sometimes we spot
their boats dragging dead whales back,”
Garðar Þröstur Einarsson, a guide at
Special Tours Wildlife Adventures, says.
He and his colleagues repeatedly implore
the authorities to expand the whaling
free area. They are genuinely upset by
the situations last summer when dead
whales were the only ‘attraction’ their
clients had a chance to see.
The number of tourists on Icelandic
whale watching vessels sprang from
about 50,000 in 2000 to almost 230,000
in 2014. While the number of tourists
keeps growing, minke whales show up in
the Reykjavík area less frequently. The
Icelandic Whale Watching Association
blames the cull. “They are killing our
stars! Those whales which are the friend-
liest and the least afraid of people, which
come closer to boats,” complains its pro-
ject manager María Gunnarsdóttir.
Her main opponent, Gunnar Berg-
mann Jónsson, the owner of the whaling
company IP Útgerð ehf., also has noticed
that animals are disappearing, but stress-
es that he has nothing to do with it.
He reckons whale watching can coexist
with whale hunting and please tourists
no less. His catch is destined mainly for
the domestic market. About a third of
the meat is sold to supermarkets and the
rest is delivered to restaurants. Whaling
comprises about 35-40 percent of his
income: “There are other things we’re
doing. We are selling dried fish, shark.
We are also in the clothing business
[IP Dreifing ehf.].” The striving entre-
preneur has gone through bankruptcy
before and acknowledges that watching
minke whales is more profitable than
hunting them. But since within his niche,
he says, he has no competitors, he wants
to continue and plans to raise prices for
his products.
The total catch of minke whales
decreased from 81 in 2009 to less than
30 in 2014. Sigursteinn Másson, Iceland’s
representative of the International Fund
for Animal Welfare (IFAW), is certain
that these statistics signify the success
of their Meet Us Don’t Eat Us cam-
paign. Today there are about 60 whale
friendly certified restaurants in the coun-
try. Volunteers from over 30 countries
have been speaking to tourists and col-
lecting their signatures to hand to the
Minister of Fisheries [and Agriculture].
“I assume the change of heart is likely
to take a generation but the change
of mind is already happening. We will
proceed the way we have [by informing
people] because it works,” announces
Sigursteinn. In the fight against whal-
WHALING