10 years ago....
In the life of being an NGO we have just reached the stage where WDCS's websites, in all their guises, are about ten years old. We shall be putting the various databases that we hold onto the various expressions of the site including ten years of news stories and features that we have accumulated.over that time. So bear with us and keep coming back and we shall be delivering more and more for you as soon as we can
In the meantime, going back to the news stories of April 1998 I came across this story about the pressure Norway was putting on Iceland to resume commercial whaling. And why were Norway so keen? Well it seems they wanted to take the international pressure off themselves and onto Iceland; and looking at what has happend since, it would seem Norway's strategy has been highly successful!
This is what was said all those years ago on the 27th April 1998
The Icelandic Government has, over the last week, been considering a proposal to resume commercial whaling. The initial proposal is believed to have consisted of a programme to unilaterally grant a scientific whaling permit. On 24 April, Icelandic TV reported that the Icelandic Government had decided at its cabinet meeting that whaling would NOT be resumed this summer. Icelandic TV stated that the reason given was that Norway is developing a new type of harpoon and it will not be ready until late this summer (1998). As a result, Iceland will not consider a proposal submitted to the Icelandic Government to catch 100 minke whales under a scientific permit.
The Icelandic Government, whilst coming under vocal pressure from a minority of pro-whalers within Iceland to start whaling for commercial gain, has also come under substantial pressure from Norwegian authorities keen to see Iceland resume whaling in order to alleviate the international pressure that currently falls on Norway. Norwegian authorities know that Iceland would draw considerable pressure away from Norway - the last official commercial whaler in the northern hemisphere.
Iceland is not a member of the International Whaling Commission, having left in 1992. Iceland ceased whaling in 1989.
WDCS on Twitter
WDCS on Facebook
WDCS on YouTube