Icelandic Fishing And Shipping Companies Linked To Whaling

The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) have pointed out the involvement of two large companies, involved in fishing and shipping, in the hunting of whales.

According to a press release from the EIA, accompanied by the video below, fishing giant HB Grandi and shipping company Eimskip have both taken part in the hunting of fin whales. The information comes in the wake of recent news that whaling season has ended, with 155 fin whales culled.

“In gathering evidence, EIA and AWI documented a truck belonging to Norðanfiskur — a seafood company wholly owned by HB Grandi since 2014 — transporting crates of whale meat and blubber from the whaling station at Hvalfjörður to [whaling company] Hvalur’s freezer facility in Hafnarfjörður,” the announcement reads in part.

HB Grandi CEO Vilhjálmur Vilhjálmsson has told reporters in the past that “is not involved in whaling and never has been.” However, Kristján Loftsson is both the director of Hvalur hf. and the managing director of HB Grandi.

“It is deeply disappointing, but no surprise, that HB Grandi’s repeated assurances that it has nothing to do with whaling have yet again been exposed as nothing but a worthless sop to shareholders and customers who are rightly concerned about its association with the internationally condemned hunting of endangered fin whales,” said Clare Perry, Team Leader of EIA’s Oceans Campaign.

Furthermore, shipping company Eimskip has “central involvement in Icelandic whaling [that] includes hauling Hvalur whale products within Iceland and shipping them overseas.” Eimskip was also involved in the shipping of whale meat from Iceland to Halifax, where it was then sent by rail to Vancouver.

“EIA and AWI are calling on International Whaling Commission member states in Europe and the US to increase diplomatic pressure on Iceland to compel it to abide by the moratorium on commercial whaling and the ban on international trade in whale products under the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species,” the statement concludes.
[vimeo 140947745 w=500 h=281]

Iceland whaling 2015 from EIA on Vimeo.