New Zealand deplores Iceland's decision to resume commercial whaling, Conservation Minister Chris Carter said Wednesday. New Zealand and Australia have been at the forefront of a campaign to stop the resumption of commercial whaling and Carter described Iceland's decision as "extremely disappointing".
"New Zealand will be making it very clear to the Icelandic government that we utterly reject their country's right to resume commercial whaling, and remain part of the International Whaling Commission (IWC)."
Iceland announced Tuesday it would issue licences to hunt nine fin whales and 30 minke whales over the 12 months from September this year.
An IWC moratorium on commercial whaling has been in force since 1986. Iceland left the IWC in 1992 but rejoined in 2002, saying it would not be bound by the moratorium.
Iceland has conducted so-called scientific whaling since 2003.
Carter rejected Iceland's claim that fin whales were sufficiently abundant to hunt.
"It is fair to say there is widespread disagreement," he said.
According to estimates agreed on by the International Whaling Commission (IWC), there are close to 70,000 minke whales in the central North Atlantic Ocean and around 25,800 fin whales.
Iceland is only the second country after Norway to resume commercial whaling, while Japan carries out whaling for what it claims is scientific research.
Source: Agence France-Presse
