Brussels, 03/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission, fifteen EU Member States (Germany, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom and Sweden) and ten other countries (South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the United States, Israel, Mexico, Monaco and New Zealand) decided on Wednesday 1 November to take joint action to try to convince Iceland to stop commercial whale hunting (recently resumed by Iceland, see EUROPE 9291). The countries in question have signed a joint letter to Iceland, noting that they are extremely disappointed with the decision by the government of Iceland to resume commercial whale hunting in defiance of the international moratorium.
Iceland is a member of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). On 17 October 2006 it announced that it was resuming limited whale hunting for export. The letter submitted to Iceland by the United Kingdom's ambassador requests that Iceland respects the IWC moratorium and ceases commercial whaling. Iceland's under-secretary of state for foreign affairs, Gretar Mar Sigurdsson, told AFP that Iceland was aware of the concerns of the signatory countries but pointed out that it was only allowing very limited whaling. Before this new development, the only country in the world carrying out whaling for commercial purposes was Norway. Japan carries out whaling for what it describes as 'sicentific purposes' allowed by the IWC. (lc)