I'll Be Back

Posted by Lisa at 10:41 AM, June 29, 2005

Katherine, Katrin, Abbi and Lotte at the Husavik Whale Centre © Greenpeace

After we got back from whale watching Stefan, Johanna and I walked over to the Husavik Whale Center. It's a lovely museum full of very informative and interesting exhibits. If you don't know anything about whales when you go in you could sit an exam on them by the time you come out.... providing you haven't just looked at the pretty pictures!

Abbi who owns and manages the museum has collected everything himself. He's been completely fascinated with whales for most of his life and is probably the most passionate whale fan I have ever met. Yet he is a very down to earth person and not the kind of emotional "whales are magical beings" type.

In the early afternoon I had to take a phone call in the office from the BBC who wanted me to talk about my opinions on the ban on commercial whaling. BBC World was having a discussion on this subject, for their program "Talking Point", which is broadcast all around the world on radio and on TV. I was a bit nervous but I'd done it once before so knew what to expect. They had a guy from the International Fund for Animal Welfare alongside a lady from the High North Alliance talking live on the program and they asked me to comment on why I felt the ban should be left in place. You can watch the program online here. I spoke as a member of the public visiting Iceland.

Something the High North Alliance lady said was that whale watching and whaling go together nicely and that tourists will not mind if a country is a whaling. From my own discussions with tourists here in Iceland and from the 67,000 people who have taken the Greenpeace pledge - it would appear that she is wrong! Let's have a look at some statistics....

Norway started whale watching in 1986 and had 20,000 whale watchers last year out of a total of 5 million tourists. Iceland on the other hand, which does not hunt whales to the same extent or as blatantly for commercial use started whale watching in 1995 and had over 82,000 whale watchers last year out of a record breaking 360,000 tourists. I find it hard to believe that these statistics have nothing to do with the fact that Norway openly hunts hundreds of whales for profit every year.

After the interview I had to say goodbye to Stefan and Johanna who were heading off for some more sight seeing. They were my last remaining Greenpeace friends so I was quite reluctant to part with them. So then I was on my own. No place to stay (the guest house was fully booked), no Greenpeace people to lead the way. I went and bought some bread and cheese in the local supermarket and sat down by the harbour and watched more tourists pile onto the boats and go out to watch the whales and dolphins. Such a great thing to see! So many people happy to pay money JUST to see some animals, which are simply going about their daily lives, being wild and free. I really can't think of a more positive thing to make money from. Iceland is very lucky to have whales frequenting their waters. Here is a product, which you don't have to export, or process in order to sell it. You just need to know how to find it and using it doesn't reduce it. I just can't believe that some countries needlessly exterminate these precious commodities.

Later that afternoon I got chatting to the volunteers at the Whale Centre and they were very sympathetic to the fact that I had no place to stay and offered me a bed in their apartment for the night. In return I took them out for dinner.

Katrine and Lotte are from Germany and Katherine is from England. They all look after the museum and are collecting data on the whales, which visit the bay. We stayed out until about 1am and then walked up the hill away from the town centre. I walked backwards for a while looking back down over the harbour and at the low lying clouds which hugged the mountains, feeling very sad that this was my last night in Iceland. It's such a magnificent place and I didn't want to leave at all.

We set 2 different alarm clocks so that I wouldn't miss the bus. I got up at 6:30am and walked back down the hill. The girls had told me to go to the wrong gas station for the bus. However, I was fortunately redirected by a local just in time. I rested my head up against the bus window as we headed out of Husavik and whispered "goodbye" but I didn't feel sad to leave then because I knew I'd be back as a tourist, with my husband and kids in tow, when Iceland stops killing whales.

Please help us stop Icelandic whaling. Take the PLEDGE and send an E.MAIL to the government of Iceland. Then, ask your friends to do the same.

Cheers
L.

One of the beautifully restored Icelandic fishing boats, now used for whale watching

Snow on the mountains, which border Husavik