Icelandic minke whaler who blamed vet strike for delaying his hunt is forced to retract
Yet more smoke and mirrors from Iceland’s whalers – this time, the turn of minke whaler, Gunnar Bergmann Jonsson, who has recently been spending a great deal of time whining and complaining on the radio and elsewhere in the news, that he can’t start his whaling until the current strike by veterinarians ends. In fact, he landed his first minke whale on 11th May and landed at least one more whale on 1st June. As I write, his boat is off Grindavik to the southwest.
When confronted with the truth, Gunnar was forced to issue a retraction and admit that not only had his company already started killing whales, but the meat from at least one of the whales has already been disposed of under hygiene regulations, due to the vet strike. Whilst the meat from the second whale has been reportedly stored on ice, it is quite likely that it too, will be dumped as there seems no prospect of an early end to the strike.
The first Sunday of June is Fishermen’s Day in Iceland and this coincides with the annual two-day Festival of the Sea in Reykjavik this weekend. in recent years, the minke whalers have attended this festival to serve up barbecued minke whale meat to visitors – it remains to be seen whether Gunnar Bergmann will want to show his face there this year.
