Ingham’s W RLD
LIKE latter-day Vikings we scoured the Greenland Sea last week for signs of our prey – and simply followed the seabirds. A “raft” of gulls, terns, skuas, shearwaters and puffins were riding the swell off Reykjavik, a sure sign of a shoal of fish below. Sure enough, two humpback whales rose sedately from the depths in their quest for fish, snorting into the air about 100 yards from our boat.
When they dived in slow motion with a trademark farewell wave of their tails, the whale-watching boat filled with multinational gasps of excitement.
Brits, Americans, Aussies and Italians watched the leviathans feed for about half an hour before the skipper steered away in search of other cetaceans.
When a patch of sea the size of a penalty area started to boil, we knew we had found a shoal of mackerel with a death wish. Within minutes two minke whales emerged, lured by the silver bounty, thrilling all on board.
But here is the rub. This year Iceland has already harpooned and gutted 43 minke whales, with more to follow.
Whale and Dolphin Conservation says that since Iceland resumed commercial whaling in 2006 it has killed more than 420 minke and 706 fin whales – though the endangered fins have won a reprieve this year.
In Reykjavik many restaurants serve minke steaks or minke burgers, particularly in the tourist area. Yet nobody is starving in Iceland. There’s no need to eat whale.
Whaling has been banned globally for 30 years because these long-lived mammals were being driven to the brink of extinction.
Minke may well have recovered. Some claim they threaten fish stocks, but a minke does not come close to taking what a modern trawler can take in a day. And I do not see how whalers can guarantee a humane death for these intelligent creatures.
Iceland is schizophrenic about whales. It has the fastest growing whale-watching industry in the world with passenger numbers doubling between 2010 and 2014. Last year 272,000 flocked there from around the globe to see the jewels of its seas.
Yet as we got off our boat, just a few yards away were the whaling ships that might shortly go out and kill our minke.
It leaves a very bitter taste in the mouth. Iceland needs to remove this blot on its reputation.
Whales are better caught on camera than on a harpoon. Iceland should cash in on their beauty not their blood. A PAIR of sniffer dogs have struck a blow for Africa’s elephants by catching a poacher in Tanzania. After a tip-off Belgian Malinois Jenny and English springer spaniel Dexter found four ivory tusks hidden under a parked vehicle, says the Wildlife Conservation Society. The suspect is helping police with their enquiries. AN ARCTIC wader has fired the starting gun on the winter migration. The British Trust for Ornithology says unprecedented numbers of curlew sandpipers from Siberia have descended on the east coast, notably Frampton Marsh in Lincolnshire and Cley and Titchwell in Norfolk. They are small birds worthy of a trip to the coast before they head south to Africa. GREEN TIP: Make your spin dryer more efficient by cleaning its fluff filter before every load. TIGERS have become a byword for a doomed species. But not in Nepal. The Zoological Society of London says numbers there have nearly doubled in just three years thanks to a crackdown on poachers and hi-tech kit for rangers. The tiger may burn bright a bit longer in the forests of the night. HERE in the UK our wildlife is in trouble. Populations of 213 priority species, such as skylarks and orchids, have declined 33 per cent since 1970, a Government report says. And 75 per cent of the species are in decline. The Woodland Trust says we all need to do our bit by making gardens wildlifefriendly or helping protect local conservation areas.