January 8, 2024

We are doing everything possible, through the Icelandic legal system and the political process and we hope that the government of Iceland will put an end to the mad obsession of Kristjian Loftsson to slaughter endangered Fin whales.

But if this fails, if Loftsson gets what he is demanding, we will be there in Icelandic waters to aggressively and non-violently block his murderous desires and we will risk our ship, our lives and our freedom to do so.

Icelandic whaling will end in 2024.

From Captain Paul Watson Foundation UK

Ombudsman report into the decision by Svandís Svavarsdóttir to delay whaling last summer finally published.

Released today, the report agrees with the Ministry that animal welfare considerations may be taken into account when making regulations based upon the Act on Whaling. It notes that legislation relating to whaling, unlike other legislation relating to animals, has failed to be updated to reflect animal welfare concerns since it was passed by Parliament in 1949 and that such updates were long overdue.

The ombudsman however, also states that, despite the need for updating the regulations, there was a lack of clear legal support for the suspension of whaling. i.e. because the law is out of date, there was insufficient legal support to take the actions necessary to update it.

The lack of legislative updates relating to animal welfare (by the previous pro-whaling minister) and the published timeline that makes clear that Svandis acted swiftly upon receipt of reports from committees and working groups means that there is no real expectation for Svandis to resign (except from a small minority who were always keen to get a pro-whaling minister back in post). 

We welcome Svandis’ commitment ‘to strive for changes so that the outdated laws are brought to the modern world.’ 

Official Althingi statement: https://www.stjornarradid.is/…/Umbodsmadur…/…

#oppaiakan #letsendwhaling #stopwhaling #captainpaulwatsonfoundationuk