Much has been said about the renewed whale harvest in Iceland. I don’t think that I could add much else for either side. I’ll say that I’m not dead set for or against. It isn’t one of those mutually exclusive hot topics for me, few hot topics are. I can respect someone’s decision to be on one side or the other. I won’t make my decision based on a numbers game alone. “Sustainable” is more than a logical spreadsheet argument.
I really don’t like the “more valuable to watch than to kill” argument. That sounds very egotistical to me. If a pod of whales decided to take the Reykjavík 101 bus (is there such a bus?) to come watch the cute humans and try to make me do tricks for their enjoyment I’d be a little bit insulted… So if we’re trying to raise the status of whales to a higher plain than the other creatures then I’m not buying it. Or perhaps we think of them as we do ourselves? A soul? Sure, I think of them like that too. And the same for every other thing living or not. R e s p e c t.
I’d rather go whale watching than cod watching. But I still respect the cod. And I won’t feel guilty for eating a cod, or a whale. If either of them is taken without some respect then I would feel less comfortable about a harvest.
The cod and the whale must sustain their life and to eat. So must I. We all must eat and we all are food. I want the same for my time and the future beyond.
For now I will defer to the people that truly understand what a sustainable harvest means and can respect life. I feel that both is possible. We all justify some form of harvest that another person does not approve of. So why the blind hatred for a whale harvest? The cod swimming and the stalk of wheat blowing in the wind are both life forms that deserve my respect if I am to eat them or watch them. If the Íslendingur can honestly believe they can harvest a small number while preserving the survival of species for their grandchildren then I say let them show me differently. for now.
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