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In a statement (3/19/10) from Iceland's Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture Iceland claims clerical error.

Alleged illegal exports of whale products from Iceland

The Icelandic Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture has launced an inquiry into the alleged illegal exports of whale products from Iceland based on information from the website of Statistics Iceland.

Regarding the alleged illegal exports of whale meal to Denmark, it has now been confirmed that the two shipments, 775 kilos of meal in January 2009 and 22,750 kilos of meal in March 2009, were fish meal, wrongly quoted in export declarations by the Icelandic exporter as whale meal. Statistics Iceland has confirmed that this will be corrected on their website, effective on 31 March 2025 when revised figures for 2009 will be published. Information regarding this matter will also be conveyed to the Danish Authorities.

In February 2010 the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture was notified that an Icelandic company had shipped 250 kilos of minky whale meat to Latvia along with the required official CITES export certificate from Iceland. Iceland has a stated reservation to Appendix I listing of this species but for international trade voluntarily follows a protocol set out by CITES for Appendix II listing, which requires the export country to issue an export certificate, but does not state any obligation to require an import permit from the importing country.

However the exporter was notified by Icelandic authorities that Latvia had not stated a similar reservation to minky whale listing in CITES Appendix I, and it would therefore be illegal for Latvian authorities to issue the required CITES import certificate for the shipment. The exporter in turn notified the importer in Latvia of the situation.

The Icelandic Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture has been looking into legal means to ensure that similar incidents can be avoided in the future.


WDCSs initial reaction is;

At such a politically sensitive time how can the Icelandic authorities have allowed such a ‘clerical error’ to have occurred?

How did this error occur, not at the data entry point on the Icelandic statistical site, but by the exporter, and twice, two months apart?

What understanding do the Icelandic Government have of EU rules and law that they thought Latvia could import whale meat? This is the same Government that made a ‘clerical error’ in exporting twice to Denmark.

How was such a clerical error made twice? Once is maybe careless, twice is… you tell us.

Which Icelandic company was on the export certificate?

How can we now tell that it was fishmeal? What proof is there that it was not whalemeal and now has entered the foodchain? Can the Danish authorities test to prove that it was not whalemeal almost a year after the exports?

And what were the minke whalers in Iceland doing exporting? These are the same whalers who stand to be rewarded by the IWC deal with coastal quotas. Obviously they are gearing up for export. IWC countries take note! And finally,

Why did it take so long for such a so-called error to be discovered?


Background details below

Original WDCS press release here

Icelands recent large scale exports of whale products: illegal trade and under reservation

Data recently uncovered in Icelands statistical database reveal that Icelands exports of whale products have dramatically increased. In the last twelve months, Iceland has exported over 158 tonnes of protected whale products, with a total value of almost US$2.5 million. Exports of whale oil to Norway and other frozen products to Japan were conducted under their respective reservations to the CITES Appendix I listing of whales, while shipments of whale meal to Denmark in 2009 and whale meat in Latvia in early 2010 violated both CITES and European Union laws.

Iceland has previously focused on exporting whale meat and blubber to the other whaling nations under their respective CITES reservations, or to the Faroe Islands, a non-Party to CITES. Although some countries have consistently opposed the trade, the world has largely turned a blind eye. Now, Icelands whaling industry is growing and diversifying; creating new commercially valuable products (including whale meal/animal feed and oil) from the hundreds of fin and minke whales it kills each year. It is clear that Iceland is developing new products from whales and is seeking new international markets.

These new economic opportunities explain Icelands intransigence at the IWC and its setting of whaling quotas that far exceed the capacity of its domestic market. Why, as its whaling starts to shows the potential for profit, would Iceland be interested in agreeing to a package of measures that reduces its self-allocated quotas?

It is clear that failure of the IWCs negotiations to include an enforceable ban on trade in all whale products is a fatal flaw. WDCS and other NGOs have long argued that unless the IWC imposes a requirement that all IWC members give up their CITES reservations, Iceland and the other whaling nations will continue to develop new markets for their products. We believe that the news from Iceland vindicates our concerns, but adds a new dimension: Even if the IWC prohibits international trade in whale meat, it appears now that Iceland does not care. It intends to export whale products as widely as possible.

Doing a deal with the whaling nations just wont work. We call on the international community to stand up to Iceland and the other whaling nations and take a zero-tolerance approach to their international trade in whale products. Specifically, we urge the EU to demand that Iceland immediately stop its whaling and trade, and withdraw its CITES reservations, if its application for EU membership is to be considered. We call on the USA to impose trade sanctions immediately on Iceland under the Pelly Amendment for undermining of the effectiveness of both the IWC and CITES.

All data below is taken from Icelands Statistical Bureau. Screen shots of each relevant part of the database are shown in an Annex.
 
Icelands illegal exports to Latvia and Denmark (total Free on Board (FOB) value US$52,748)
Icelands exports under reservation to Norway (total Free on Board (FOB) value: US$16,789)
Icelands exports under reservation to Japan (total FOB value: US$ 3,142,514)
Icelands exports under reservation with a non-Party (Faroe Islands) (total value: US$ 5,732)
This comes on the back of this comes at the same time that the Fisheries Minister has confirmed the quotas for 2010 to be 200 minke and 200 fin whales.

Background on Icelands whaling

Iceland hunts minke and fin whales in defiance of the International Whaling Commissions (IWC) moratorium on commercial whaling. Iceland left the IWC in1992 and then rejoined ten years later, in 2002 with a reservation to the whaling ban. Iceland subsequently resumed commercial whaling in 2006 with self-allocated quotas.
 
Iceland hunted126 fin whales and 81 minke whales in 2009 and plans to take as many as 200 of each species in 2010[1] with the stated aim of export.
 
Iceland, Norway and Japan hold reservations to the Appendix I listing of fin and minke whales by CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
 
The Faroe Islands (a territory of Denmark) are not a Party to CITES and can legally trade with countries holding reservations.
 
In a 2009 interview with local news media, in a response to a question about the profitability of whaling, the owner of Icelands fin whaling company indicated that while whale meat is the most valuable product, processed whale products such as melted fat and pulverized whale bone could be turned into "meat meal and then "mixed with other meal..." (link is in Icelandic).

WDCS is asking that if Iceland was successful in getting its whale meal into Denmark, how was the meal then used? Traditionally whale meal was used to feed pigs and potentially now could also be used to feed fish in fish farms. But whilst Iceland says it exported this meal, did it arrive and if it did, what happened to it?
 
EC Feed Hygiene Regulation (EC 183/2005), which was meant to improve both feed safety and traceability, should ensure the ability of EC inspectors to determine whether Icelands whale meal entered the food chain in Denmark, although last week the UK Food Standards Agency issued a call for consultation on the need for clearer guidelines on record keeping requirements for feed use.
 
All data from Icelands Statistical Bureau[2]. Screen shots of each relevant part of the database are shown in an Annex, available here.

Please note conversion rates were carried out using two different currency sites (www.xe.com and www.x-rates.com)

[1] - Link to reference (page in Icelandic)
[2] - Link to reference (page in Icelandic)

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