GUTIERREZ CALLS ICELANDIC WHALE HUNTING ANNOUNCEMENT DISAPPOINTING

Oct. 19, 2006 — U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez issued the following statement on Iceland's announcement that they were resuming commercial whaling and will issue permits to hunt nine endangered fin whales and 30 minke whales for the year ending August 31, 2007. There is currently a global commercial whaling ban. (Click NOAA image for larger view of minke whale. Please credit “NOAA.”)

"Today's announcement is disappointing," said Gutierrez. "Iceland is going in the wrong direction on this issue. The United States will closely review this development and in consultation with other countries and stakeholders we will look at options to further promote the conservation of whales and the environment."

"Iceland claims that it is not bound by the moratorium on commercial whaling under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. We object," Gutierrez said, who as Secretary of Commerce, oversees U.S. ocean fishing and conservation of whales and other marine mammals through NOAA.

The United States, along with other like-minded countries, continued to push a pro-conservation position through diplomacy efforts at the June International Whaling Commission meeting in St. Kitts.

"This new commercial hunt, preceded by Iceland's research whaling that also yielded meat for commercial sale and export, will further divide the International Whaling Commission and impede progress in that organization," said Bill Hogarth, U.S. Commissioner to the IWC and director of the NOAA Fisheries Service.

The IWC was set up under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling on December 2, 1946. The main duty of the commission is to keep under review and revise the measures specified in the Schedule to the Convention-governing conduct of whaling throughout the world.

In 1986 the moratorium on commercial hunting was put in place to allow species of whales to recover from decades of overharvest. Whales experience a wide range of threats, including the unintended interaction with fisheries, noise pollution, ship strikes, pollution, plastic debris and habitat loss.

Background
The United States has strongly and repeatedly objected to Iceland's lethal research whaling program, conducted since 2003. Under the Pelly Amendment to the U.S. Fishermen's Protective Act of 1967, the Secretary of Commerce certifies to the President that "nationals of a foreign country... are conducting fishing operations in a manner or under circumstances which diminish the effectiveness of an international fishery conservation program."

In 2004 then-Commerce Secretary Donald Evans certified Iceland as a country that is undermining the effectiveness of the whaling convention and the IWC through its scientific whaling. That certification remains active.

Minke and fin whales are protected under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act, and fin whales are on the U.S. endangered species list. Furthermore, the hunts for minke and fin whales will be conducted without any transparency about Iceland's compliance measures, enforcement activities, or other management measures in place to ensure their quotas are not exceeded.

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Relevant Web Sites
NOAA Fisheries Service

NOAA Whales Page

Media Contact:
Scott Smullen, NOAA, (202) 482-6090