Whaling in Iceland

[bogib]

Originally Posted by prairie tuber

Bogib,

You'll have to make your way down to Gimli, Manitoba one year for Islendingadagurinn

It could be a make a northern tour after I get back to Minneapolis from Kentucky end of November. What kind of climate may I expect ?

Bogi

[prairie tuber]

Originally Posted by Kernow

Hi prairie tuber
I for one don't have a problem with that at all, provided the 'harvesting' is done compassionately. The main problem with whaling is that your well, whaling! they were here millions of years before us (hopefully will be here millions of years after us too!) they are earth's largest creature and you must admit if you were out in your rib and saw one you'd just have to say 'wow!'
we don't need to eat them, can't we just leave something alone for once?
About the commercial fishing methods, your dead right, thousands of dolphins around my coast are being killed and thrown away as waste.
regards
Kernow

You make a valid point about the impressiveness of seeing a live whale from a small boat or the potential of the whale watching industry. Nonetheless the whale watching industry and a whaling industry are not necessarily incompatible. In fact they have more common interests than many may realize.

Believe it or not, there are extremist organizations out there that are vehemently opposed to whale watching because they believe it to be exploitative of the whales, turning them into a 'commodity'.

I've never tried whale meat nor would I go completely out of my way to, but if it were there in front of me I would try it. For a number of cultures, whale meat is traditional to them, and it is not my place to judge those traditions. While I have no particular desire to eat horse, dog or cat meat, I would not judge or interfere with cultures that traditionally do eat those meats.

[prairie tuber]

Originally Posted by bogib

It could be a make a northern tour after I get back to Minneapolis from Kentucky end of November. What kind of climate may I expect ?

Bogi

At the end of November here in Winnpeg, the temperatures would most likey be ranging between -10 C to -30C. It usually doesn't get really cold here until after Christmas. Ribbing is not the greatest at this time of year.

[jwalker]

Originally Posted by Action Man

nice pictures bogi

Yeh, you wait until they are covered with blood and blubber after the flenching knives have been used.

[Scotty]

Originally Posted by jwalker

Yeh, you wait until they are covered with blood and blubber after the flenching knives have been used.

My thoughts exactly !

[Scary Des]

I do not understand commercial fisherman they seem to believe that because they have bought a boat and some nets they have the right to plunder the sea with complete disregard for the future; left to there own devices they would fish the sea out and then moan about how hard their life is
Compare this to a farmer who at least harvests what he sows, a fisherman just takes. I am not saying farmers are perfect but when compared to a fisherman they are streets ahead.

I would have more time for fisherman’s views if they put something back into the seas other that discarded tackle Why they do not set up cooperative hatcheries and release fish back into the sea is beyond me Instead they moan about dwindling stocks and fisheries officers not allowing them to catch everything

I do accept that whaling is a traditional occupation for some nations but it is hardly traditional to chase whales in steam ships which have only been around for the last 150 odd years and if it is a national tradition why export the meat why not use the meat at home the short answer to that is that is just another industry a way of making money and should not be viewed as a tradition Des

[Bern Hanreck]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...18/ixhome.html

[Kernow Buoy]

Good news indeed

The proposal already seems to have the backing of the public after a Lake District survey revealed that 90 per cent of people would be in favour of re-introducing the grey whale to Britain

you mean 10 percent said no?

[prairie tuber]

Originally Posted by Scary Des

I would have more time for (commercial) fisherman’s views if they put something back into the seas other that discarded tackle Why they do not set up cooperative hatcheries and release fish back into the sea is beyond me Instead they moan about dwindling stocks and fisheries officers not allowing them to catch everything

Des

Excellent point. Farmers have to make do with the land they own or lease.

In North America, Sport fisherman (anglers) work actively with government conservation departments to establish and enforce catch limits. Additionally they spend many millions each year restocking the rivers and lakes so that the populations of various fish species increase. Hunters do the same thing with their resources, spending billlions on habitat protection & proactively working with conservation departments to determine limits and enforce them (antipoaching programs & such).

As a result the, various the sportfish & big game species here flourish. Without the efforts of North America's sportfishermen & hunters many of the species that are currently flourishing would be in dire straits. Animal rights organizations have never done anything to improve the survivability of any fish or animal species.

Back to commercial fishing on the oceans, it comes down to greed, lack of accountability & national governing bodies not taking a strong stand. For example, Spain & Portugal have allowed their commercial fisherman to illegally fish off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland with illegal nets for years. Additionally the Canadian government (up until very recently) had been very weak kneed about protecting these regions, not only from foreign poaching but in not properly managing the seal populations as well. The result was a catastrophic loss of the cod fishery.

[thorper]

Originally Posted by bogib

prairie tuber thanks for your support, those southerness must pay us a visit and try out our great foods and to experiance 24 hours of daylight during our short summer that brights everything up.

Bogi

I've had some great food in Iceland, although I don't think I will ever try the rotten sharks meat again!

Ricky

[jwalker]

Originally Posted by Scary Des

I do not understand commercial fisherman................

........a way of making money and should not be viewed as a tradition

Des, well done, exactly my view.

[bogib]

Originally Posted by jwalker

Yeh, you wait until they are covered with blood and blubber after the flenching knives have been used.

With full respect Jeff, the whales are set along side the ship and towed to the whaling station in Hvalfjörður (translated whalefjord) so no blood or blubber on board perhaps I will drive one evening or during the weekend and take some pics there to complete this thread which originally was meant to share with you RIB.net people our wonderful old harbour and red sunset.

It is only 45 minutes drive (one way) to the whaling station from Reykjavik.

For those of you interested in old military saga Hvalfjörður was base for the British and allies during the second world war and most of the convoys from US to Russia and UK did stop over on their way so this fjord should have more meaning to you guys than just whalings which was in operation during the war.

Bogi

[lc0021]

I'm just curious about the first photos... what time is sunset in Rejkavik at this time of the year ??

I'm also a bit curious (sceptical in a very uninformed way...) about re-introducing grey whales to the Irish Sea after they've been absent for 400 years - is there any notion of what led to their demise 400 years ago - doubtful it was over-fishing that killed them off then..

[bogib]

This picture was take around 2,45 in the morning (night).

Regarding the grey whales I have not a clue.

Bogi

[Alan]

Originally Posted by prairie tuber

) Back to commercial fishing on the oceans, it comes down to greed, lack of accountability & national governing bodies not taking a strong stand. For example, Spain & Portugal have allowed their commercial fisherman to illegally fish off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland with illegal nets for years. Additionally the Canadian government (up until very recently) had been very weak kneed about protecting these regions, not only from foreign poaching but in not properly managing the seal populations as well. The result was a catastrophic loss of the cod fishery.

I can recommend a good book "Lament for an Ocean" by a chap called Michael Harris which chronicles the politics & mismanagement of the cod fishery that resulted in its collapse in the early 90's.

[Arctic RIB]

Commercial hunting of these magnificent creatures should not happen anymore, the only people who deserve to hunt them are those who eat the entire whale and people who have traditionally hunted them to survive in the past. To sell the meat to other countries is simply an irresponsible method for making money. Where I come from whales are hunted only for the meat which can be consumed locally and nothing more. The hunting methods are traditional such as harpoons for the most part sometimes 50 cal. rifles are used for the bowhead whale hunt which happens only once every two years and it's only one whale for the entire country (Canada), this ensures that traditional knowledge which has existed for over 3000 years is not lost, this is extremely important not only for the Inuit culture but also for survival because in some communities there are only 10 jobs and 0.5KG of beef costs $20CDN. This emphasis on the cultural link of the Inuit with whales is prevalent throughout the book: Inuit, whaling and sustainability. Because of the blanket bans on whaling imposed by the IWC, many Inuit communities were fearful of losing the skills needed to successfully hunt whales. The younger Inuit were faced with a future without ever eating whale meat or tasting maktak, which, up to that point, was a main part of their diet. Inuit, Whaling, and Sustainability points out that much of the social harmony of the Inuit is directly linked to whale hunting and the sharing of the whale itself within the community. The entire community is brought closer together with a unified sense of purpose through the cooperation necessary in a successful whale hunt.

"I would think our people would always hunt whales because it is something we do: it is part of our culture and I think culturally what you eat is very, very important. Inuit identity is important: Inuit don’t get a lot of identity out of eating beef"

In some respects, the marine diet has made the Inuit among the world's healthiest people. Beluga whale meat has 10 times the iron of beef, twice the protein and five times the Vitamin A.

Omega 3 fatty acids in the seafood protect the Inuit from heart disease and diabetes. Seventy-year-old Inuit men have coronary arteries as elastic as those of 20-year-old Danes, said Dr. Gert Mulvad of the Primary Health Care Clinic in Nuuk.

Pangnirtung, originally, was a whaling community. After a bowhead hunt, there was great excitement in the hamlet: for the first time in over fifty years the community had been given permission to harvest a Bowhead whale! Twenty four men, of all ages were selected to go on the hunt. The youngest male invited was a teenager, selected for his youth and ability to preserve the experience of the hunt for future generations.
It took three days to cut up the huge 42' x 24' whale. Everyone, young and old, feasted on whale blubber while celebratory speeches, singing and prayers went on all the while. Later in the community building, everyone danced the Scottish reel to accordion music, a legacy from their European visitors and partial ancestors for some.

[prairie tuber]

Originally Posted by Alan

I can recommend a good book "Lament for an Ocean" by a chap called Michael Harris which chronicles the politics & mismanagement of the cod fishery that resulted in its collapse in the early 90's.

Alan I'll check it out - thanks.

Originally Posted by Arctic RIB

In some respects, the marine diet has made the Inuit among the world's healthiest people. Beluga whale meat has 10 times the iron of beef, twice the protein and five times the Vitamin A.

This is interesting because it seems that a number of arctic mammals tolerated extremely high levels of vitamin A. I wonder if the livers of belugas have lethally toxic levels of vitamin A in the same way that polar bear livers and inuit sled dog livers do. There have been a number of early polar explorers who had done themselves in by consuming the livers of polar bears and sled dogs while trying to stave off starvation .

Originally Posted by Arctic RIB

Omega 3 fatty acids in the seafood protect the Inuit from heart disease and diabetes. Seventy-year-old Inuit men have coronary arteries as elastic as those of 20-year-old Danes, said Dr. Gert Mulvad of the Primary Health Care Clinic in Nuuk.

Interesting. Alot of attention has recently been given to the Omega 3 F.As found in seals, in that they have a number of properties unique to more traditional sources of omega 3s (fish oil, flax, grape & hemp seed, etc...) . No shortage of seals in Canada!