Iceland Hunts Fin Again

Some Hvalur lads preparing lunch

It WAS too good to be true.
In May 2012, I blogged that Iceland had stopped killing endangered fin whales. Well, it's now resuming that disputed commercial hunt next month.
That's the word from the horse's mouth - or rather the horse's arsehole - Kristjan Loftsson. He's CEO of Hvalur, the only Icelandic company that catches whales: "The quota is 154, plus some 20% from last season possibly."
Loftsson's company caught 148 fin whales in 2010, but none in 2011 and 2012, due to the collapse of its only market in earthquake- and tsunami-hit Japan.

Loftsson: "They're just fish."

The Icelandic appetite for whalemeat is minimal (International Fund For Animal Welfare says only 5% of Icelanders regularly eat it), so most of this year's catch will be exported to Japan, where Loftsson claims the whalemeat market is improving. This is despite International Whaling Commission resolutions requiring member states to use the meat domestically.
In 2011, US threatened Iceland with economic sanctions over its commercial whaling, accusing it of undermining international efforts to preserve the ocean giants...but later suffered erectile dysfunction, not having the balls to carry through with the political pressure...
I'm saying Iceland, but it's not the nation as a whole engaging in this bloody massacre - just the lone 'Ahab', Loftsson. He should be condemned for his brutality...but so too should the government for failing to stop him. Oblivious to the IWC moratorium and global opposition, Loftsson is Ignorance Personified. He has said:

Hvalur 8

"Whales are just another fish...an abundant marine resource, nothing else." And...
"If they're so intelligent, why don't they stay outside Iceland's territorial waters?"
Loftsson runs four vessels: Hvalur 6, 7, 8 and 9.
In Nov.1986, anti-whaling Sea Shepherd activists sank Hv6 and Hv7 at their moorings in Iceland's Reykjavík harbour (these were later

Hvalur 9

raised and put back into service). Hv8 and Hv9 are the only ships that will hunt fin this year.
His vessels are partly powered by whale oil. He boasts his biofuel (80% diesel, 20% whale oil) is environmentally-friendly, as it's rendered out of whale blubber using heat from Iceland's volcanic vents. Each boat burns the equivalent of one whale a day during the hunting season, saving hundreds of thousands of krónur a year! "Friendly to the environment"?
Chris Butler-Stroud, CEO of UK-based Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society: "Calling such fuel 'green' is completely absurd, perverse and unethical. Already steeped in whale blood, he's now prepared to use the remains of dead whales to keep his own vessels afloat."
If there's an award for the most absurdly perverse, brutally lethal, incongruously ignorant, self-centred inhumane inhabitant on this planet, Kristjan Loftsson must be a top contender!

PS: 20 June 2013 - First blood...
PS: 25 June 2013 - 11 fin killed in first week of the season...