- Robin des Bois - https://robindesbois.org/en -

Europe mixed up in the traffic of whale meat

The Winter Bay left Iceland on June 4 with a little less than 2000 tons of whale meat in destination to Japan. Iceland is with Norway the only country next to the European Union authorizing whaling.

The European Directive on the conservation of natural habitats and wild fauna and flora stipulates that Member States should prohibit the transport of specimens of all cetacean species living or dead or of by-products.

In fact, the Winter Bay came to be sold by its Norwegian ship-owner to a Latvian ship-owner, Aquaship Ltd. based in Riga. Latvia is a member of the European Union since 2004.

“It is the first time that a European ship owner is directly and voluntarily involved in the traffic of whale meat since the implementation of the Directive. We have informed the European commissioners for transport and for the environment,” declares the NGO Robin des Bois.

The Winter Bay to this day is docked in Tromsø in Norway for reasons that are not known.