Kristján Loftsson,Chairman of the fishing firm HB Grandi and owner of the whaling company Hvalur encourages Australians to defy environmentalists and international agreements by resuming humpback-whaling. According to Kristján the whales are a “nuisance”.
Kristján Loftsson, who has been hunting whales and waging a war of words with environmentalist for many years, made his comments in an interview with the Australian newspaper Sydney Herald over the weekend. Australia was among the first countries to choose conservation over commercial whaling, permanently ending whaling in 1979.
Act before the whales bankrupt everybody
Conservationists believe the Australian whaling ban is a major factor in the recovery of the whale populations in the Southern Pacific. Still, whale populations in Australian waters are below 2% of their pre-whaling levels. However, Kristán believes the populations are growing too fast. The humpback population, which swims past Australia on its migration north from the Antarctic, is up to 30.000 animals, and are starting to cause a “nuisance” according to Kristán, who believes the whales will end up bankrupting “everybody” by paralyzing shipping and closing harbours:
“They are talking about it: 'Oh, we have to stop the ship traffic'. In 10 years' time it will be 60,000. You will have to close the port of Brisbane and make everybody bankrupt.”
Dismisses environmentalists as loudmouths
Popular support has been shrinking rapidly in recent years in Iceland. The growth of the tourism industry and popularity of whale watching are among the reasons, as is the campaigning of environmentalists in Iceland in recent years. Kristján dismisses these out of hand:
You have some [activists] here run by some of these US [environmental] groups. They are just a handful of people. They are pretty loud but I am not worried about these.
As to the politics of whaling, Kristján couldn’t care less. To him its all about a heroic stance against popular opionion and scientific consensus:
I don't care less. I went whaling myself in Australia once in 1977, out of Albany. All these guys in the [International] Whaling Commission … haven't a clue what they are talking about. Where is this f—ing world opinion [against whaling]? Have you ever seen an opinion poll taken around the world?And who likes being told what to do? You don't like that in Australia. Like this climate [change] talk: your prime minister, he doesn't care less. I like that. He's my man.
Upholding a tradition stretching back a few decades
Loftsson told the Sydney Herald that his whaling was sustainable, and that he was upholding a family tradition: “I've been in this game for all my life, my father started this business in 1947,
That was the year Icelanders started commercial whaling. Prior to the 1940s there was no Icelandic whaling industry. Although there are historical sources of fishermen killing whales, Icelanders had never hunted for whale in a systematic manner until after World War II. All whaling off the coat of Iceland was done by foreign fleets, from Spain, England and Norway.
Marine archaeologist … who has been investigating remains of Basque whaling stations in the Westfjords told Iceland Insider that the notion that Icelanders have a historical tradition of whaling was ridiculous and “historical revisionism of the worst kind”.
Read more: Tour archaeological digs of Basque whaling stations in the Westfjords
Kristján Loftsson,Chairman of the fishing firm HB Grandi and owner of the whaling company Hvalur encourages Australians to defy environmentalists and international agreements by resuming humpback-whaling. According to Kristján the whales are a “nuisance”.
Kristján Loftsson, who has been hunting whales and waging a war of words with environmentalist for many years, made his comments in an interview with the Australian newspaper Sydney Herald over the weekend. Australia was among the first countries to choose conservation over commercial whaling, permanently ending whaling in 1979.
Act before the whales bankrupt everybody
Conservationists believe the Australian whaling ban is a major factor in the recovery of the whale populations in the Southern Pacific. Still, whale populations in Australian waters are below 2% of their pre-whaling levels. However, Kristán believes the populations are growing too fast. The humpback population, which swims past Australia on its migration north from the Antarctic, is up to 30.000 animals, and are starting to cause a “nuisance” according to Kristán, who believes the whales will end up bankrupting “everybody” by paralyzing shipping and closing harbours:
“They are talking about it: 'Oh, we have to stop the ship traffic'. In 10 years' time it will be 60,000. You will have to close the port of Brisbane and make everybody bankrupt.”
Dismisses environmentalists as loudmouths
Popular support has been shrinking rapidly in recent years in Iceland. The growth of the tourism industry and popularity of whale watching are among the reasons, as is the campaigning of environmentalists in Iceland in recent years. Kristján dismisses these out of hand:
You have some [activists] here run by some of these US [environmental] groups. They are just a handful of people. They are pretty loud but I am not worried about these.
As to the politics of whaling, Kristján couldn’t care less. To him its all about a heroic stance against popular opionion and scientific consensus:
I don't care less. I went whaling myself in Australia once in 1977, out of Albany. All these guys in the [International] Whaling Commission … haven't a clue what they are talking about. Where is this f—ing world opinion [against whaling]? Have you ever seen an opinion poll taken around the world?And who likes being told what to do? You don't like that in Australia. Like this climate [change] talk: your prime minister, he doesn't care less. I like that. He's my man.
Upholding a tradition stretching back a few decades
Loftsson told the Sydney Herald that his whaling was sustainable, and that he was upholding a family tradition: “I've been in this game for all my life, my father started this business in 1947,
That was the year Icelanders started commercial whaling. Prior to the 1940s there was no Icelandic whaling industry. Although there are historical sources of fishermen killing whales, Icelanders had never hunted for whale in a systematic manner until after World War II. All whaling off the coat of Iceland was done by foreign fleets, from Spain, England and Norway.
Marine archaeologist … who has been investigating remains of Basque whaling stations in the Westfjords told Iceland Insider that the notion that Icelanders have a historical tradition of whaling was ridiculous and “historical revisionism of the worst kind”.
Read more: Tour archaeological digs of Basque whaling stations in the Westfjords
