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EU, US and others urge Iceland to stop commercial whaling

15 September 2014, 22:07 CET

(BRUSSELS) - The EU, the US and several other countries on Monday formally called on Iceland to halt its commercial whaling, saying they were "strongly opposed" to its continued rejection of a global moratorium on the practice.

The European Commission said a joint protest delivered to the Icelandic government stated: "We are deeply disappointed with the Icelandic government's continued authorisation of the hunting of fin and minke whales."

The message stressed the "strong opposition to Iceland's continuing and increased commercial harvest of whales, particularly fin whales, and to its ongoing trade in whale products," it said.

The text was made public ahead of the opening of a four-day meeting in Slovenia of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), which is represented by 88 member states.

Iceland belongs to the IWC, tasked with managing the world's cetacean population, but it has rejected the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling.

As well as the European Union and the United States, the protest was signed by Australia, Brazil, Israel, Mexico and New Zealand.

The joint message noted that Iceland harvested 125 fin whales in 2009, 148 in 2010 and 134 in 2013 -- a sharp increase from the seven fin whales harvested in the 20 years before 2009.

"We are not convinced that Iceland's harvest and subsequent trade of fin whales meets any domestic market demand or need; it also undermines effective international cetacean conservation efforts," the message said.

The protest, officially called a demarche, was delivered by the EU's Ambassador to Iceland, Matthias Brinkmann and diplomats from the United States, France, Germany and Britain.

The EU ambassador "pointed out that public opinion in the countries that are Iceland's main trading partners is very much against the practice of whaling," the commission said.


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