Dear Ambassador Haarde:
Iceland is a fabulous country with generous people, a unique culture, opportunities for adventure, and some of the most picturesque vistas in the world. Unfortunately, this beauty and the international reputation of Iceland is tarnished by its ongoing commercial whale hunt for minke and endangered fin whales.
I know that Iceland claims that this whaling is legal given its reservation to the International Whaling Commission’s global moratorium on commercial whaling but this hunting is inconsistent with global public opinion, which opposes commercial whaling. The hunts are also inherently cruel. The fact that most of the whale meat is exported to Japan, where there’s a declining human demand for such meat and where some is used to manufacture dog treats makes this killing even more egregious.
Mr. Ambassador, I am strongly opposed to commercial whaling in Iceland and I firmly believe that your country’s reputation would be substantially improved if it would forego whaling in favor of whale watching. As you know, whale watching in Iceland is a burgeoning industry with profits increasing annually. As scientists and economists have highlighted, live whales can be observed countless times by curious tourists and native Icelanders, while a dead whale can only be killed and sold once. Iceland’s future is in whale watching not whale killing, and I respectfully encourage you and other leaders in Iceland to make such a future a reality.
Sincerely,
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Dear Foreign Minister Þórðarson:
I am strongly opposed to commercial whaling in Iceland and I firmly believe that your country’s reputation would be substantially improved if it would forego whaling in favor of whale watching. We urge you to consider that Iceland’s repeated defiance of international agreements that prohibit commercial whaling and trade in whale products raises serious questions about your country’s reputation in international forums.
We also ask that you consider Iceland’s burgeoning whale-watch industry and recognize that every one of Iceland’s whales is worth far more alive than dead. Iceland’s reputation is tarnished by whaling but would be rehabilitated if your country were to embrace whale watching as an alternative to whaling.
Whaling is a cruel and unnecessary industry from a bygone era. Please, do not trade away Iceland’s future and, instead, focus on watching whales, not killing them.
Sincerely,