Pierce Brosnan, who visited the US White House yesterday,
apparently urged the Obama administration to begin talks with Norwegians,
Japanese and Icelanders about their whale hunting practices.
Brosnan, who has been campaigning against whale hunting for the past sixteen years, told reporters, “The administration and the president is very sensitive and forward thinking to the cause. Most people think [the whales] have been saved but they haven’t. The slaughter still goes on. This is a golden opportunity.”
Iceland’s whale hunting practice is a contentious one, even within the country itself. While about two-thirds of the nation believe Iceland has the right to hunt whales, two-thirds also believe the practice hurts the economy. Apart from environmental groups, perhaps the most vocal opponents of whale hunting have been whale watching companies, who view the practice as detrimental to their business.
A moratorium of sorts had been in place, but one his very last day in office, former Minister of Fisheries Einar K. Guðfinnson reinstated the whale cull quota. His replacement, Leftist-Green party chairman Steingrímur J. Sigfússon, declined to reverse the decision.