Flee Willy! Don't buy salmon from Iceland

Philadelphia Inquirer: Iceland? Isn't it that cool island country in the North Atlantic that liberated a real-life version of "Free Willy"? And isn't it the place where tourists love to try whale-watching excursions?
Erase those images for a new one: Icelandic chefs proudly showing off hunks of whale meat.
Seems that this otherwise civilized Western nation has flip-flopped like a mackerel and decided to start treating whales like big floating steaks.
While many around the world watched stunned, Iceland last week began hunting minke whales, the smallest of the endangered great whales. Icelandic officials claimed the first planned kill of 38 minkes was being done strictly for scientific research purposes -- a claim immediately met with international hoots of disbelief.
That's because those whales that give their lives for "science" more likely will end up on dinner tables of Icelanders or possibly, Japanese. And also because there are better ways to study whale behavior than killing them.
The Icelandic "research" project, scoffed Patrick Ramage of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, is more on the level of "101 things to do with a dead whale."
Whale hunting
The real reason for this whale of a claim is that it's the only way that Iceland, an on-again, off-again member of the International Whaling Commission, can skirt the IWC's ban on commercial whale hunting.
The IWC was formed in 1946 as it became apparent that hunting was driving great whales toward extinction. The hunting moratorium has worked fairly well -- though Japan and Norway both defy it.
Now Iceland, which stopped commercial whale hunting in 1989 in the face of world pressure, may be hankering to resume full-scale hunting again. And its 38-whale experiment, while scientifically dubious, is a handy way to gauge world opinion.
So let's give it to them.
The United States, which buys much of Iceland's annual fish catch, has warned sternly it will consider banning Icelandic goods. Kudos to the State Department and President Bush -- hardly a champion of environmental causes -- for getting tough on this one.
American whale-lovers who want to express some outrage could think twice about buying Icelandic products, such as salmon and those gorgeous wool sweaters.
But if Iceland continues its unacceptable whaling quest, travelers might feel less inclined to fly Icelandair. And what a shame it would be to take Joannie or Johnny on a whale-watching trip to Iceland, only to run across a whale hunt.
Opinions about whaling in Iceland can be sent to its embassy in Washington: icemb.washmfa.is.