“The whaling industry, like any other industry, has to obey the market. If there is no profitability, there is no foundation for resuming with the killing of whales.”
Einar K. Guðfinsson, former Minister of Fisheries, Iceland, 2007

Why is Iceland still pursuing whaling?

Are Kristjan Loftsson’s interests bigger than the one of the Icelandic nation?

Could the reasons be access to subsidies, useful to other parts of the whale-hunters businesses?

Why is the pursuit of unprofitable meat ranked so high in importance with Icelandic fishing ministers?

Has the whaling lobby supported former fishing minister Einar K. Gudfinnsson or his party the Independence Party with money?

Why did Steingrimur J. Sigfusson validate the quotas on whaling granted by Einar K. in his last day in office?

Are the economic costs of whaling to Iceland greater than the economic benefits, contrary to what we’ve been told?

Are there nationalistic agendas at work? Who benefits more from the us vs. the bad foreigners mentality than the fishing industry which is fighting the hardest against Iceland joining the EU? Could unprofitable whaling be the sacrificial costs they are willing to make to keep the rest to themselves?

Why isn’t the media asking those questions? Could the reason be that the unprofitable Morgunbladid for instance is now fully controlled by money-men from the fishing industry as evident by its propaganda in the last couple of months?

Attached is a report on the economics of whaling, made by the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society in the US.

They might have an agenda but isn’t it fair to listen to their side of the story, look at the numbers objectively and seek answers to the above questions?

From the report:

Key Findings

• Sales of whale meat, blubber and other products have made losses for almost all of the last 20 years. Overall sales of whaling by-products have made a loss of around US$ 223 million since 1988.
• In 2008/09 the whaling industry in Japan needed a subsidy approaching US$ 12 million in order to break even.
• Overall cumulative subsidies reported since 1988 come to $164 million.
• Wholesale prices of whale meat per kg in Japan have been falling since 1994, starting at just over US$ 30/kg in 1994, and declining to US$ 16.4/kg in 2006.
• The average amount of whale products in stockpile inventories in the main cold-stores (about 40% of total refrigeration capacity) shows an increase from around 1500 tonnes in 1997 to around 4000 tonnes in recent years (since 2005).

economics_whaling_report.PDF

Related posts:

1. Why Iceland Continues Whaling
2. Bankrupt Iceland pins its hopes on whaling – but will it work?
3. Out of line with whaling allowed for five years
4. Questions on whaling
5. Brilliant news for homeowners