Talking and listening

Last night we held a meeting in the hold with the mayor, Halldór
Halldórsson, and some of the towns people. It was a sort of debate
where the mayor, and Frode each stated their position then people fired
questions at Frode. My impression was that all of the locals were in favor
of the current whale hunt. They asked some tough questions, which is fair
enough, and they were also polite and even friendly. A lot of questions
brought out how these people see their relationship with the sea.

Harald, a fisherman who wants to catch whales and whose father was a whaler,
described Icelanders as "farmers of the sea". He went on to say that a good
farmer does not take more then nature can give, and said Icelanders are not
the kind of farmers that would, "shoot the last cow" (because then you would
have no more cows).

Harald, and others at the meeting, were also very honest about wanting the
government to allow the sale whale to the Japanese, but argued that they
could be trusted to do this in a responsible way. Frode answered that it is
not a matter of trusting small fishing communities like
Ísafjördur, but knowing what has always happened in the past
when there is big money to be made by whaling - too many whales are taken
too quickly. Control over how many whales are killed is taken away from the
fisherman, and decisions made by bureaucracies, which are susceptible to the
pressure of money. And species after species of whale declines in numbers
till in danger of extinction.

-- Andrew