Greenpeace Responds To Iceland's Proposed Whale Hunt

Not only is there no scientific justification for this whale hunting, Greenpeace expects that the meat from these proposed hunts will be sold on the commercial market in Iceland, underlining the commercial nature of the program.

Although Iceland's whaling commissioner called the proposed hunt, "scientific catch", the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission reviewed the program at Iceland's request and did not agree to it. In addition, Iceland's proposed take of 38 whales is the thin edge of the wedge. The country, which has not hunted whales since 1989, has already said that it intends to catch another 250 whales in 2004, which will pave the way for increased catches in the future aimed at the export market.

Greenpeace calls on the Government of Iceland to immediately reverse this decision. If Iceland really wants to do a scientific study of whales there are many ways this can be done without killing them. For example, DNA work, which is one of the things that Iceland has said it wants to do with its whale hunting, can de done by non-lethal biopsy.