Obama Continues to Pressure Iceland Whaling, Still No Sanctions

On Thursday, President Obama issued a strong message to congress regarding Iceland’s continued hunting of Fin Whales, the second largest whale species.

The President’s address emphasized the need to keep a close eye on Iceland’s whaling practices, without imposing trade sanctions. Rather, he ordered the State Department and Commerce Department to maintain the country’s questionable whaling ethics under review and urge the government in Iceland to halt the practices completely. 

“Iceland’s actions threaten the conservation status of an endangered species an undermine multilateral efforts to ensure greater worldwide protection for whales,” Obama said in his message to Congress” Iceland’s increased commercial whaling and recent trade in whale products diminish the effectiveness of the [International whaling commission] conservation program,” he added. 

A law, known as the Pelly Agreement, allows the placement of trade sanctions of countries who violate international fishing regulations. In his decision to forgoe any sanctions, the President pointed to the collapse of the whale meat market in Japan following the tsunami, which prompted a sudden halt Iceland’s whaling season. However, environmentalists worry the shutdown is only temporary, and the President’s actions give leeway for the practice to resume next year. 

“Unfortunately, President Obama failed to impose more effective measures through targeted economic sanctions,” writes bloggette Taryn Kiekow on the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) website. “Without hard-hitting sanctions, Iceland may not feel enough pressure to stop whaling.”