Green Options

Ignoring both the CITES treaty and the International Whaling Commission, exports of Fin Whale meat hunted by the Icelandic whaling fleet have passed customs and quality checks in Japan. It is hoped that Japanese consumers develop a taste for the meat, apparently one of the tastiest varieties.

Prior to the advent of modern whaling techniques in the 19th century, Fin whales were largely immune to predation by humans. However, modern methods have allowed an estimated 90,000 Fin whales to be caught in the North Atlantic up until around the late 1980’s, with some subsistence catches in Greenland continuing. Populations in the Pacific and Antarctic regions are less well known.

The Fin Whale is currently listed in appendix 1 of the CITES list of endangered species. This list aims to protect endangered species by preventing international trade except when import is for non commercial reasons. However, Iceland along with Norway and Japan hold reservations to this listing. This effectively means that these countries have opted out of this area of the CITES convention, allowing them to trade this species. The catch rates set by the International Whaling Commission have been set at zero since 1976, however this does not apply to Iceland, Norway or the Russian Federation which have all objected to this provision.

The world over, fish stocks are declining, catch rates are falling and management is failing. Ever bigger ships with ever bigger nets employing more advanced technology should surely result in increasing catch sizes. However internationally, catch rates are declining. Even small scale subsistence fisheries are in decline. Why is this happening?

The ocean is a complex system which crosses our arbitrary international boundary’s making management of these resources incredibly difficult. Over fishing of one fish species in one area can have a knock-on effect in areas far removed and on completely different species. Our understanding of these delicate interactions is very limited.

Since 1983 the fisheries of the European Union have been managed under the Common Fisheries Policy. In September this year the European Commission announced a full review of of the Common Fisheries Policy because it has failed to protect fish stocks.