Watch whales, then eat them

Watching and hunting whales "work perfectly together" in a look-and-cook combo of tourism and gastronomy, Iceland's Whale Commissioner said Thursday at the global whaling forum. "Many of the tourists that go on whale watching tours go to restaurants afterwards to taste whale meat," said Tomas Heider, speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of the International Whaling Commission in the British Channel Islands. "I think it is a very good proof of the compatibility of the two," he said, countering arguments that the contested practice of hunting the giant sea mammals drives away whale watching revenue. Many countries in the 89-nation IWC, especially in South America, argue that potential income from tourism far outstrips the value of commercial whaling, and that the two do not mix well. But in Iceland, Heider insists, the industries feed off each other. "Even though we have been increasing our whaling in recent years, the tourists are streaming in numbers to Iceland and going to whale watching tours like never before," he said. "It works perfectly together." Like Norway, Iceland practices commercial whaling, invoking a much criticised option within IWC rules to exempt itself from a 1986 moratorium on industrial-scale hunting. Iceland takes both fin and minke whales, and has significantly increased the number of each species captured. After not hunting fin for nearly two decades, Icelandic fishermen killed about 125 in 2009 and 150 last year. For minke whales, the number has jumped from an average of about 40 per year during the early 2000s, to between 60 and 80. Iceland says whale populations in the North Atlantic are abundant enough to withstand these numbers. A study published last year in the peer-reviewed journal Marine Policy said that whale tourism generated more than two billion dollars (1.4 billion euros) in 2009 and is on track to increase by about 10 percent a year.