The largest creature on earth, the blue whale, may be hunted again soon, 20 years after it was given protected status. Iceland is seeking permission from the International Whaling Commission at its annual meeting in Bournemouth next week to kill hundreds of whales from five species, including the blue, ostensibly to check their numbers.
The move has dismayed conservationists who are in Britain to attend the meeting, Greenpeace said it was a way of bypassing the worldwide ban on whaling to come into effect next January 1. Although the claimed purpose of the hunt would be scientific, much of the whale meat would be sold to Japan, the world's principal consumer of whale products.
In all, Iceland, which is still legally taking whales with Japan, Russia and Norway in the run-up to the ban, intends to hunt 220 whales a year - including minke, fin, sei and humpback - for four years. South Korea also plans to catch 200 minke whales, both countries intending to escape the ban with scientific permits.
Scientist believe the blue whale, which weighs up to 90 tonnes and grows up to 100ft, is the largest creature that has ever lived. It was hunted almost to extinction until 1955.
Sir Peter Scott, the naturalist, said: "I am shocked and horrified that Iceland is considering catching the blue and humpback whale under a so-called research programme. Both these species have been strictly protected for many years and are seriously endangered. I don't expect a responsible European country to suggest such a disgraceful subterfuge as a method of getting around the procedures of the International Whaling Commission."
