Even beyond the moral arguments, it’s just stupid. I went to Iceland last summer and I don’t know what 100 fin whales are worth but I guarantee just the people on the two boats I went whale watching on spent more money than Japanese whale meat fetishists. And that was only two boats from two companies. There were dozens of boats going out from Reykjavik and Húsavík every day, at least during the high season.
Minke whales aren’t endangered but even that hunt creates bad publicity for the country and probably harms the tourism industry. If you have bad luck on your whale watching day, you’ll still see a few minke whales and come away happy. It was mostly families with kids and the kids were stoked to spot any whale.
I get making exceptions for indigenous people in the Canadian Arctic or wherever but they have a cultural tradition, harvest like 4 whales a year, and use the meat and blubber themselves. But from what I read on my trip and was told by the guides, Icelanders didn’t even eat whale meat unless the whale beached themselves. It wasn’t some key cultural tradition.
Whalers were literally the oil companies of the 1800’s. I say “Fuck” to them just as much as I say “Fuck” to Exxon, Chevron, Aramco, et al.
Even beyond the moral arguments, it’s just stupid. I went to Iceland last summer and I don’t know what 100 fin whales are worth but I guarantee just the people on the two boats I went whale watching on spent more money than Japanese whale meat fetishists. And that was only two boats from two companies. There were dozens of boats going out from Reykjavik and Húsavík every day, at least during the high season.
Minke whales aren’t endangered but even that hunt creates bad publicity for the country and probably harms the tourism industry. If you have bad luck on your whale watching day, you’ll still see a few minke whales and come away happy. It was mostly families with kids and the kids were stoked to spot any whale.
I get making exceptions for indigenous people in the Canadian Arctic or wherever but they have a cultural tradition, harvest like 4 whales a year, and use the meat and blubber themselves. But from what I read on my trip and was told by the guides, Icelanders didn’t even eat whale meat unless the whale beached themselves. It wasn’t some key cultural tradition.
Whalers were literally the oil companies of the 1800’s. I say “Fuck” to them just as much as I say “Fuck” to Exxon, Chevron, Aramco, et al.