Commercial whaling may be over in Iceland

News:Iceland may stop commercial whaling completely due to economic pressures and competition from Japan which also hunts whales and subsidises its whale products.

Facts:

• Iceland alongside Norway and Japan has frequently withdrawn from the International Whaling Commission’s 1986 worldwide moratorium which had indefinitely paused commercial whaling.

International Whaling Commission:

• It is an Intergovernmental Organisation established in 1946 under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling.
• Aim:To provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry.
• Headquarters: Cambridge, England.
• India: It is a member of the commission.
• In 1986, the commission adopted a moratorium on commercial whaling and the moratorium continues till date.
• However,it allows non-zero whaling quotas for aboriginal subsistence and also member nations may issue ‘Scientific Permits’ to their citizens.