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Iceland stops commercial whale hunt

Industrial Whaling Factsheet

18 November 2005

Call me Ishmael...! Whaling folklore speaks of tradition, of the noble hunt, of man pitting his wits against the ferocious sea and against mighty intelligent leviathans. But the history of whaling is far from glamorous, far from something to look back at through rose tinted spectacles. It is bloody tale of persecution, greed and stupidity, nowhere more so than in the waters encircling the Antarctic.

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Whale Watching

19 July 2004

Briefing prepared for the International Whaling Commission meeting in Sorrento, 2004. The view that whales are worth far more alive than dead is one that is shared by an increasing number of people worldwide, many of whom are directly benefiting from the phenomenal growth of whale watching.

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Backgrounder on Icelandic whaling

22 June 2004

In August 2003 Iceland announced the resumption of its "scientific” Whaling programme, after a 14-year hiatus. Iceland had previously ended its illegal commercial hunt in 1989 following worldwide boycotts and economic pressure.

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The Economic Impact of Whale Watching in Iceland: 2003

01 April 2004

Study from the Environmental Institute in Iceland on the economic value of whale-watching.

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A short history of commercial whaling in Iceland

01 April 2004

Advocates of whaling in Iceland would have us believe that Iceland has a long and continuous history of whaling, marked by concern for the well being of whale populations. The truth is very different. The true history of Iceland's whaling is of a start/stop industry with high foreign involvement that was characterised by massive over- exploitation of the kind that has characterised the commercial whaling industry wherever it has been conducted.

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