A Tourism Package Complete With All The Blood and Gore One Can Handle

A Minke whale breeching. Photo courtesy: Martin Cathrae via TreeHugger

My two daughters and I went whale watching at Ucluelet, British Columbia, years ago. What a totally thrilling experience for all three of us. After we had calmed our sea sickness, the real majesty of the scenery took our breath away. Majestic mountains, an eagle scoring a fish just off our boat, seals; and, just when we thought it couldn't get any better - the whales appeared.

It soon became apparent that these vast behemoths could flip our boat with a flick of their tails; but, they swam under us without paying any attention to us at all. It was humbling; and, we still talk about it.

Tourism can be a great way to reconnect with nature and remember why you care so much about preserving it. However, tourism can also illustrate instances of blatant irresponsibility. Shockingly, in Iceland the problem goes far beyond irresponsibility, it's downright brutal.

Last week marked the launch of Whale Watching With Whalers, a four-hour tour which allows tourists not only to come along to watch minke whales being harpooned; but, then to sample the grilled whale afterwards.

Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) reports that today it's the tourists in Iceland that are consuming much of the whale meat. In fact, 35% - 40% of minke whale meat is eaten by tourists.

According to the organization, tourists are propping up the commercial whaling industry:

For [tourists] it's probably just one of those things they 'have' to try while they're over there; when in Rome, and all that... the irony is that fewer and fewer residents of the country are choosing to eat whale meat now.

And most recently came the launch of Whale Watching With Whalers. According to Whaler, this is what the trip entails:

be on a whaling vessel

- see and hear shot from our harpoon

- taste our grilled and raw whalemeat

- see minke whale and other commonly seen whales

- see our showroom, witch (sic) takes you through the history of whaling in Iceland

- see internal organs of the minke whale

- expert live guides

Yee! Gods!

The idea that anyone would want to see such a gruesome, painful, bloody travesty is mind boggling. These are gorgeous, intelligent, gentle animals inhumanely hunted and killed for our viewing pleasure. (Unfortunately, the species that would do the planet the most good by becoming seriously endangered is the one that's flourishing the most - man.)

What's worse, whale meat is showing up on more and more plates in Iceland. Today over 100 restaurants in Iceland serve it up.

Minke whales are the smallest of the baleen whales and the only one that can leap all the way out of the water and reenter like a dolphin. Their numbers are 149,000 in the North Atlantic, 25,000 in the northwest Pacific and Okhotsk sea but there is no clear listing of their numbers in the Southern Hemisphere, according to the International Whaling Commission.

Via TreeHugger

Crikey - Steve Irwin Is Leaving Brisbane In December

November marks the beginning of the Japanese whaling season. The whaling fleet will depart from Japan for the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. Captain Paul Watson and the Steve Irwin will leave Brisbane, Australia in early December and should arrive at the Sanctuary about the same time as the Japanese fleet.

Captain Watson and his crew are taking the correctly-named vessel. Steve was a passionate environmentalist and would have wanted to be in the forefront of this battle. Good luck Captain Watson, crew and the Steve Irwin: May you have good winds and calm waters!

"Our objective is simple," said Captain Paul Watson. "We intend to once again intervene against illegal Japanese whaling and once again we intend to save the lives of as many whales as we can with the resources available to us. We have been the cause of the Japanese whaling fleet losing profits for three years in a row. We intend to make it a fourth year of red ink for the whalers' books."

Captain Watson claims that he is unable to depend on the Australian government led by Kevin Rudd to help save the whales. “They have reneged on their promises and have done far less than the John Howard government when Senator Ian Campbell was the Environment Minister. I think Environment Minister Peter Garrett should have kept playing music and stayed out of politics. He is no friend to the whales, kangaroos, trees or the environment – just another hot-air politician.”

Approximately, one year ago, both Kevin Rudd and Peter Garrett promised (pre-election) to appoint a whaling ambassador and take legal action against Japan. Now, approximately one year later (post-election), shadow environment minister, Greg Hunt, is saying that both Rudd and Garrett are hoping that the public will forget these promises.

Last year’s successful campaign will be aired on the TV channel Animal Planet in a seven-part series called Whale Wars. It airs November 7, 2008 at 9:00 pm in most major American cities. It will be air internationally at later dates.