20/10/2006
Commission Urges Iceland to Reconsider its Decision to Resume Commercial Whaling

Speaking this week on behalf of the European Commission, Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, and Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg said the EU was strongly committed to the conservation of whales and that they regretted Iceland's decision to resume commercial whaling.

"If it was simply a matter for the EU to decide, all commercial whaling would be abandoned once and for all. Whales are a fragile component in the biological equilibrium of marine fauna, already threatened by the unwarranted resumption of whaling, and by other human activities, mainly pollution".

Accordingly, the level of protection of whales in the EU is high and EU legislation bans commercial whaling. The Commission strongly supports the general moratorium on whaling decided within the International Whaling Commission (IWC), which is fully implemented by the European Union.