Whale meat imported from Norway

Since Icelanders' demand for minke whale meat cannot be met by domestic production then there is nothing wrong with importing such meat from Norway for that purpose Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson, Iceland's Fisheries Minister, said in parliament today.

Earlier this month daily Morgunblaðið reported that up to ten tons of minke whale meat would be imported from Norway to satisfy domestic demand, not the least from restaurants, after a bad hunting season in Iceland this year mainly due to unfavourable weathers. Jóhannsson was asked in parliament by the Left Green MP Steinunn Þóra Árnadóttir if he thought it was acceptable to import minke whale meat from Norway. 

"I think the situation is simply that minke whale meat is popular [in Iceland] and the domestic production has been far from meeting the demand. Those who have been hunting minke whale have sold all their meat during the summer just after the processing," Jóhannsson said and added: "The honourable MP asks: Should we import whale meat? I can reply with another question: Why not?"

Árnadóttir responded by pointing out that some whales were endangered and many nations were opposed to whaling.

Jóhannsson in turn stressed that the minke whale stock around Iceland was not endangered. He furthermore said he could not accept the argument that Icelanders should neither import minke whale meat from Norway nor hunt minke whales in a sustainable way simply because some other whale stocks some place else in the world were endangered.

Whaling was carried out in Icelandic waters for decades until 1985 when commercial whaling was halted following a decision by the International Whaling Commission (IWC). Limited catch for scientific research then began in 2003 and commercial whaling resumed three years later. This year 137 fin whales were caught but less than thirty minke whales.

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Whaling 'directed at abundant stocks'

137 fin whales caught