Nine opposition MP’s have tabled a motion in parliament to assess the overall benefits of whaling, reports RÚV.
The MP’s have asked Finance Minister, Bjarni Benediktsson, to conduct an independent investigation of the benefits of whaling. The report should also review the international political repercussions of the Iceland’s whaling policy, consult with academics, stakeholders and relevant organisations.
The Finance Minister has been asked to deliver the report no later than the end of March next year.
Several members of parliament have spoken out against whaling this summer, not only because of anti-whaling actions taken by the United States against Iceland, but because many question the fiscal benefits.
“I think Icelanders need to review whaling activities and assess just what the benefits are for the economy given that whale meat has not been selling well, and [we should] consider an environmental and ethical viewpoint in regards to how whales are hunted,” Left-Greens MP Katrín Jakobsdóttir said earlier this summer.
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