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REYKJAVIK - Iceland is in talks with Japan to ease the way for exports of whale meat to the Asian nation, a government source said on Wednesday, three weeks after Reykjavik ended a two-decade ban by resuming commercial whaling.
The source said indications from a Japanese diplomat in Oslo that Japan would not admit Icelandic whale meat imports led Iceland's government to try to negotiate a political agreement.
"These talks ... (are) ongoing," the source said, declining to give further details.
Iceland in October said it would allow whalers to catch nine fin whales and 30 minke whales -- a decision Greenpeace called a threat to tourism, predicting the North Atlantic nation would have trouble selling the meat.
Iceland has faced sharp and ongoing criticism for the step, capped by a formal protest in early November from a group of 25 countries, including the United States and Britain.
Reykjavik contends the hunts do not flout any rules since it filed a reservation to the International Whaling Commission's 21-year-old commercial whaling ban.
Kristjan Loftsson, head of top Icelandic commercial whaling firm Hvalur, confirmed on Wednesday he planned to sell to Japan.
"As far as I know there are no regulations that prevent us from exporting whale meat to Japan. But we have to make sure our meat meets all standards and food regulations," he said.
Japan hunts whales for what it calls research purposes.
Hvalur has caught seven fin whales and one minke whale since commercial whaling resumed, but Loftsson said rough weather and short days have ended its hunts for this year.
"But we hope to continue next year," he said.
Iceland argues that fin whales, which are on the World Conservation Union's "red list" of threatened species, are plentiful in the North Atlantic.
Iceland's whaling commissioner Stefan Asmundsson told Reuters last week it was up to whalers to determine if there was a market for the meat, adding that Reykjavik had no plan to reverse its decision despite the international outcry.
"Obviously we know that a lot of people in several countries seem to think that whales are sort of special animals that should be treated differently than other animals regardless of sustainability," Asmundsson said.
He expressed hope tourism would emerge unscathed, and said it had only grown since the 2003 resumption of scientific catches of minke whales.
Those in the tourism industry were less sanguine. "We're of course concerned that commercial whaling will hurt Iceland's image as a tourist destination," said managing director Erna Hauksdottir of the Icelandic Travel Industry Association.
"And it is difficult to accept that tourism firms, which have been outspoken against commercial whaling, could end up being the ones that hurt the most financially."
- REUTERS
