Saga - 2021, Page 96

efnum er áhugaverð, ekki síst í ljósi þess að Íslendingar gerðu því
næst hlé á hvalveiðum á árunum frá 1990 til 2002.
Hvalveiðar hafa verið sameiningar- og aðgreiningartákn milli
ríkja síðan baráttan fyrir verndun hvala hófst af alvöru eftir Stokk -
hólmsráðstefnu Sameinuðu þjóðanna árið 1972. Íslendingar festu sig
rækilega í sessi í liði hvalveiðiþjóða og óhætt er að fullyrða að hags-
munir, viðskipti og samskipti á sviði hvalveiða hafi fært Íslendinga
og Japani nær hvor öðrum. Í stærra samhengi og við nánari skoðun
er þó ljóst að hvalveiðiþjóðirnar eru síður en svo einsleitur hópur —
myndin er mun flóknari.
Abstract
kristín ingvarsdóttir
THE JAPANESE PERIOD IN ICELANDIC WHALING, 1971–1990
Since the 1970s, the world of whaling has become increasingly divided, with a
dwindling number of whaling nations pitted against a growing number of anti-
whaling nations. Much has been written both by scholars and in the media about
conflicts between the two factions, but far less attention has been given to
relations within each faction. However, examining collaboration and trade rela-
tionships between whaling nations is not only interesting in its own right but also
relevant in understanding some of the motivating factors behind continued whal-
ing.
For decades, Japan, Norway and Iceland have been known as the world’s
most prominent whaling nations. This paper focuses on Iceland–Japan whaling
relations, the specifics of which remain relatively unknown even within the two
countries, despite the fact that the whaling industry has often been met with
strong international criticism and has sparked bitter trade conflicts. The paper’s
findings are mainly based on primary sources, although a wide range of academic
studies were also consulted. Primary sources include archival data from the
Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs, official foreign trade statistics, and inter-
views to fill in the gaps where no written sources were available.
After the introduction of modern whaling, Japan carried out massive whaling
operations in Asia and the Antarctic, while Norwegian and other foreign fleets
continued exploiting local whale stocks in what are now Iceland’s territorial
waters. Icelanders then progressed into commercial whaling as a newly indepen-
dent nation after World War II, and after the early 1970s a growing share of the
country’s whale meat exports were directed to Japan, as conditions for the global
whale trade became increasingly difficult. The paper then reveals the develop -
ment of the whale trade and whaling relations between the two countries through
the whaling conflicts of the 1980s. This period is referred to here as the “Japanese
kristín ingvarsdóttir94