Minke Whale

Well now, for being a cold country, Iceland could be landing itself in the hot seat.

It has been reported, from various Whale and Dolphin Society sources, that both the Icelandic fin whaling season and the minke whaling season have come to a close last week.

Some 208 whales have been killed off, which is two more than they killed last year.

Of those 208 whales, 148 were fin whales, and 60 were minke whales. These whales are estimated to be put to good use by creating more than 1,900 tonnes of whale products. This estimate comes from the government of Iceland itself.

Even though the popularity of whale meat has dropped off substantially in both Japan and other European whaling nations, the fin whaling industry of Iceland has made a record catch, the biggest haul since 1985, and is leading people to ask the question “just what are they planning to do with all those whale products”?

The Hvalur fin whaling company is trying to get around the fact that there just isn’t any demand for whale meat locally, by trying to peddle their wares in Japan, and is also pushing some new kinds of whale products. They have even proposed using whale oil to fuel whaling vessels!

This leads one to ask themselves.. Why kill all those whales? If nobody is buying, it is such a waste… Sounds like sometime in the near future, Iceland putting all these whales on ice, might just land them in a heap of hot water..

The world record for a shark being landed by a fishing rod, has just been broken by two Danish fisherman. Per Jensen and Henrik Hansen successfully landed themselves an 880 kilo, 4 meter and 10 cm Eqalussuaq (also known as a Greenland Shark, or Somniosus microcephalus) in Norway’s Bokna Fjord. The Bokna Ford is in Rogaland County, between Stavanger and Haugesund.

The previous record for such a rod caught shark was said to be in the neighborhood of 775 kilos.

When asked about the adventure, and overall catch, Henrik Jensen responded, “It all went very well”.

The two Danish fisherman had made their way to the Bokna Ford, as they had recently heard that rather big Greenland sharks were prowling the waters. As to the bait? They simply used an empty potato sack full of plaice.

The Greenland shark is not generally considered edible as its flesh is toxic and contains timethylene oxide, which when ingested causes the same symptoms as being drunk as a skunk.

It is interesting to note that if the Greenland shark is prepared in a rather difficult process, it can be eaten, and is even considered a delicacy in Iceland (even more so in Greenland) where the fish, which is not normally a danger to humans in general, is closely tied into the Inuit folklore.

New coral reefs and hills have been discovered in Lónsdjúp, off Iceland’s eastern coast.

The corals, which come in two different colours, were stumbled upon by the Icelandic Marine Research Institute during a submarine research expedition in June.

The newfound coral area is located within a 40-square-kilometer vicinity at a depth of 200 to 500 meters. Unlike the corals that form reefs in tropical environments, the Icelandic corals are cold water species. Since no sunlight reaches them at these great depths they cannot carry out any photosynthesis. Instead, they survive by filtering nutrition from ocean currents.

“What makes these so special is that they take a very long time to grow; it takes a coral reef several hundred thousands of years to develop and in that time it creates a special habitat for other organisms,” says Steinunn Hilma Ólafsdóttir, an expert in demersal organisms.

All other known coral areas off the coast of Iceland are protected as nature reserves.

The reef in the picture is not the newly discovered reef. It is a picture from the great barrier reef.

Japan needed to cede more ground, says outgoing head of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) William Hogarth*, voicing regrets over his failure to design a compromise regarding Japanese “lethal research” on whales.

After a meeting next month in Portugal, Hogarth will step down as both US delegate and head of the world whaling body. While announcing his disappointment in leaving the chairmanship without having resolved the “scientific whaling” issue, Hogarth also said that his efforts brought civility to the IWC, where annual meetings had long been showdowns between pro- and anti-whaling nations.

Norway and Iceland are the only nations that hunt whales in open defiance of the 1986 IWC moratorium; Japan is instead using a loophole in the moratorium that allows for lethal research.

In a series of closed-door negotiations with Japan and other nations lead by Hogarth, Japan allegedly offered to reduce but not end its annual Antarctic whale hunts; an offer which infuriated the neighbouring countries Australia and New Zealand.

Japan accuses Western nations of cultural insensitivity and is currently pushing for the IWC to accept whaling of the coast of Japan, since whaling is a time-honoured Japanese tradition.

One of the highlights of Hogarth’s time as head of the International Whaling Commission was a compromise brokered by him in 2007, in which Japan agreed to suspend plans to expand its hunt to include Humpback whales – a species that haven’t been hunted by Japanese whalers for several decades.

* William Hogarth is a biologist and dean of the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science.