Réttur applauds the decision by the Icelandic Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries to stop whaling
Last week, the Icelandic Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, decided to ban whaling in Iceland until 31 August 2023, effectively during all the permitted whaling season this year. The Ministry announced the decision on 20 June last at the Government Offices web, where it was stated that the Minister´s decision is based on two scientific and specialist reports on the method of whaling being contrary to the aim of the law on animal welfare as it takes too long to kill the animals. The first report was issued by the Food and Safety Authority in Iceland (MAST) in May, but in June the specialist committee on animal welfare released a second report , where it was concluded that known, modern whaling methods are not in line with legal obligations on protection of animals and their welfare. Moreover, the specialist committee stated that whaling lessen the ocean´s capability to bind carbondioxide, as whales have a positive effect on their natural environment, strengthen the ecosystem and promote a healthy and fruitful ecosystem in the ocean.
The Minister considered that in light of these findings that it was necessary to put a stop to whaling by the sole-operator in Iceland holding such a license, while it was scrutinized whether whaling in the future could at all be subject to a operating licensing, ensuring that the objectives of laws on animal welfare would be met.
The events leading up to the Minister´s decision was due to the zealous fight and activism by the Icelandic Nature Conservations Association, but the attorneys at Réttur provided legal advice during the last month, when the Association submitted and voiced repeated claims to inter alia the Minister to withdraw the operating license of the operator holding it. Réttur welcomes this important decision by the Minister and thanks her for listening to the invocation by activist groups and the scientific society on the importance of whales for the ecosystem of the ocean and for the fight against climate change.
These events have been covered by the Icelandic media, e.g. here and here.
Picture from the Government Office Web, photographed by Edda Elísabet Magnúsdóttir