Breach (2015) - full transcript

Situated between
Greenland's frozen wasteland

and the bustle of modern Europe,

lies a country whose
name is quite deceiving.

Kissing the Arctic Circle

with a latitude of 66 degrees North,

this beautiful island nation cannot simply

be defined by ice.

Roaring waterfalls, ancient glaciers,

endless fields of moss-covered rock

and violently explosive volcanoes

make this country one of our planet's



most prized natural gems.

Northern lights dance across the sky

and illuminate the dark hours of winter,

while six-hour sunsets provide
stunning light displays

during the long summer days.

Arctic foxes tip-toe across snowy fields.

Sheep graze along grassy hills.

Pure-bred horses roam
vast, uninhabited spaces,

and puffins nest in the jagged cliffs.

This mystical environment makes it easy

to understand why fairytales

of trolls, witches, and giants

play such a prominent
role in Icelandic culture.

But there is one kind of giant in Iceland



that has existed much longer

than any of the written legends.

There are 23 different species of whales

that are known to visit
the surrounding waters

of Iceland each year.

Whether they migrate to
the region to mate or feed,

these majestic marine mammals

travel across our globe’s
vast, open oceans

to spend time in this area.

The humpback whale, the fin whale,

and the minke whale are
among the various species

that can be seen and
appreciated in Iceland.

Ironically enough, it is
these prehistoric giants

who are this country’s
biggest controversy.

The history of
whaling is one of the worst

examples of exploitation
of a natural resource.

The country that's peaceful
enough to not need an army,

is defying global law
and slaughtering whales

for commercial gain.

- I didn't care a bit about
whales when I started this.

I mean, I didn't know
anything about whales.

I had never seen a whale alive in the sea.

But, when I started studying this

and watching them,

and learned how incredibly

peaceful, sustainable
creatures they are…

they fascinated me more and more.

- I was studying a lot of biology,

studying lots of stuff about Darwin

and the evolution of animals.

When I saw the first whale brought in,

I just kind of started
thinking about, like,

this animal is so much bigger than us

that we need 14 people,

and a harpoon and a grenade

and a huge ship to kill it.

It doesn't really make sense.

It's not natural for us to kill it.

- When I was growing up, before 1986,

we used to go to Hvalfjordur,

me and my family in the summer.

It was quite the scene
when they caught a whale

and dragged it up and
started chopping it up.

And this is my father, Arni,

and my grandfather, Loftur, they
are two of the founders

of the company, Hvalur.

And my older sister,

she worked in the kitchen.

And some of my family members

have been either working as crew members

on the boat or in the
office and things like that.

So, obviously, it was just part of our life.

The argument that whales
are intelligent creatures,

I mean, I understand that
people use that as an argument,

but, for me, that's not that important.

I think what is more important is that,

whales, they roam the sea freely.

They don't belong to anyone,

and, after 20 years whaling,

we just laid it behind.

This is part of our past.

The Icelandic
government has granted

permission to hunt two different species

of whale for commercial purposes.

The fin whale and the minke whale.

The fin whale is the second
largest animal on the planet,

growing to lengths of 85 feet long

and weighing up to 74 tons.

This impressive cetacean's anatomy

is streamlined for speed

and despite its massive size,

can reach up to 23 miles per hour.

The minke whale is the smallest
species of baleen whale,

ranging from 25 to 30 feet

and weighing anywhere from 6 to 11 tons.

The minke is also known to be one of the

most curious whales.

Swimming very close to boats and regularly

exposing their heads out of the water...

making them a fairly easy target.

But as easy as the target may seem,

the technique of how to
humanely kill a whale

is a controversial topic.

Today, whalers use explosive,
grenade-tipped harpoons

to kill the minke and fin
whales they set out to sea for.

The metal rod is fired
from a high-powered cannon

from the bow of the ship

as the whale emerges
from the water to exhale.

When the mechanism enters the whale,

multiple prongs expand,

releasing the pin in the bomb.

Due to their enormous size,

fin whales are dragged
along the side of the ship,

while the smaller minke whale

is hoisted aboard the whaling boat.

This is bomb. Bomb

- We control the boat up there.

When we are on the minke
hunting, you open the boat here

and we take the minke inside the boat.

The heads may be outside

and the tail, the tail are around here.

The harpoon go here in the front

and they go inside here, stay like this.

This is the bomb, this one is ready.

Just put the bomb in the
front, and then shoot.

- I mean, commercial
whaling dates back to 1604,

and it's quite well-documented in Iceland,

who came first and everybody after that.

The Basques were the first
to do whaling in Iceland.

So for almost 400 years,

we have foreign whaling
and a lot of opposition

to that for a long time.

But Icelandic commercial whaling

is a fairly new phenomenon.

So, all this talk about
that being so traditional,

is not really the fact.

- My family has been involved
in whaling for decades,

ever since my grandfather
established the company

Hvalur in 1947.

And it started on a big scale

after the second World War.

I cannot agree with the argument

that it is a tradition,

because it's commercial whaling.

It's not like it's Aboriginal
subsistence whaling.

It's not like we're helping
some rural communities

to survive, it's totally different.

So the traditional aspect,

it's becoming a little bit ridiculous.

Founded in 1948
by two ambitious businessmen,

Hvalur is the only company in
Iceland to continue hunting

the world's second largest animal.

- My father was at the board of Hvalur.

And after my father passed away,

I have become a shareholder in the company.

Kristjan
Loftsson, son of Hvalur founder,

has inherited the highly
controversial company

and is considered the
face of Icelandic whaling.

- My view on Kristjan Loftsson
is like, that he's a businessman

who has a lot of money and
this whaling thing

is really important to him

because his father used to do it, too.

And it's just a tradition in his family,

and he just wants to keep
that tradition going.

But Loftsson is not alone.

Politicians within the
Icelandic government

show support for whaling,

despite a seemingly declining
market for the meat.

In 2013, a high-powered official

told the Reykjavik Grapevine,

"We maintain that it's
the right of Icelanders

"to hunt whales.

"We don't answer this question
of what we gain from it."

Icelanders are proud people.

And national sentiment plays a large role

in supporting whaling.

A city of tents for 30,000

citizens of Iceland.

They have gathered out
in the historic site

outside the capital of Reykjavik

where the world's oldest
parliament first met

for a two-day ceremony
marking the proclamation

of Iceland as a republic.

In Iceland's
history, we were under

foreign powers until 1944.

For Icelanders, their
independence is a holy thing.

Somehow, they see this whaling
as a matter of independence.

- So, compared to other countries, we're

kind of like a teenager
just getting independent,

and we want to make our own decisions.

We don't want other countries
telling us what to do.

We're stubborn in the
sense of changing things.

- An argument that we
hear a lot here in Iceland

is that we should catch whales because

they eat so much seafood;

that we're competitors when it comes to

our fishing stocks.

But, I think that is not a valid argument.

- We estimated that these
12 species would consume

annually, around six million tons.

Kristjan
Loftsson is also the chairman

of HB Grandi, one of the
largest fisheries in Iceland,

supplying seafood across the globe.

As a large stockholder, he
has a financial interest

in supporting the argument
that whales eat too much fish.

This offers a perfect opportunity

to benefit both of his businesses,

because Loftsson benefits
from each whale killed

and every fish caught.

By purchasing HB Grandi products,

consumers are supporting
Loftsson's whale hunting.

- Well, all the fin
whale meat is exported.

There is no domestic
market for fin whale meat.

- The market in Japan
for whale meat in general,

not only fin whale meat, has been shrinking

very fast in the last few years.

Young people are not eating it.

You don't find whale meat in Tokyo

and the big cities in Japan.

- It's just so crazy

to catch whales in Icelandic waters,

chop them down, freeze them,

and ship the frozen meat
over half the planet

to Japan; and in Japan,

they have difficulty
selling their own meat.

I mean, they have more meat than they can

sell themselves.

From 2009 to 2014,

Kristjan Loftsson and the Hvalur company

killed 544 endangered fin whales.

Unable to sell the
majority of his stock pile,

the meat remains in freezer facilities.

A surplus of product
means a cheaper product.

Loftsson understands this
simple business concept

and has become creative
in trying to rid his meat

from his freezers.

- When I learned also
that some of our meat

is being canned as pet food,

it made me realize how wrong this is.

Besides
incorporating whale meat

into luxury dog food,

Iceland's whaling king has
helped produce a whale beer,

and even uses whale blubber
to fuel his whaling ships,

considering it an eco-friendly bio-fuel.

While fin whale meat remains unavailable

to Icelandic citizens,

they are offered another species
of whale that they can eat…

The minke whale.

- We have minke whale meat on the market.

Though, most of it just
ends up in the restaurant

as a novelty for tourists.

- So, this is a dying business

and the minke whalers said from the start

that if they would not
find international markets,

they would stop.

So, now I think it's
time for them to stop.

Mankind has
struggled determining accurate

whale populations throughout history.

In Iceland, it's up to Gisli Vikingsson

and the Marine Research
Institute to decide the quotas

on how many whales are killed each year.

Their incredible size,
lengthy migration routes,

and the depth at which they dive

makes tracking their
numbers extremely difficult.

But the IUCN,
the world's primary authority

for the conservation status
of all species, disagrees.

This international
union created a red list

to classify each species' extinction risk.

Iceland's
government is actually defying

a global law implemented by the

International Whaling Commission, or IWC,

in 1982.

The law became effective in 1986

and officially restricted all
countries from hunting whales

for commercial gain.

- I was kind of surprised.

I thought that whaling
was part of our past.

That was something that we
hadn't done for 20 years,

so why start again?

- And there is this idea that the whaling

is strongly linked to our independence

and if we give it up, we
will be giving up our right

as a sovereign country
to make decisions about

how to utilize natural resources.

- So, we don't really care about

what other countries tell us.

We just really want to do
our tradition and our thing.

- The United States' view on Iceland

is that they should be a member,

we support their membership.

We do not support their membership with a

privileged condition
that no other member has.

- We are deeply disappointed
with the Icelandic government's

continued authorization of the hunting

of fin and minke whales.

We believe the continued authorization in

fin whaling activities in
particular damages Iceland's

reputation as a conservation nation

and a model of sustainability.

- Well, this morning we decided
to walk out of this meeting.

Not to take any further
part in this meeting.

The reason for that is that
yesterday, there were numerous

illegal acts committed in this room.

International
outrage towards Iceland's

disregard for the IWC's ban on whaling

has continued to grow for decades,

damaging the small nation's reputation.

- The international
community is against whaling

and there is a lot of pressure
from conservation groups,

from environmentalists
and animal welfare groups.

- We want the commercialization
of whaling to stop.

We have to draw a line in the sand

demanding a zero-take of whales.

- We've just held a Save the Whales rally

to deliver more than 53,000 petitions

calling on our government to
save the whales, not whaling.

- Greenpeace is protesting
against the shipment of

six containers of whale meat
that are loaded on this vessel,

The Cosco Pride, via European ports,

from Iceland to Japan.

But
Loftsson and his business

have felt the effects of
the world's resistance.

- All European ports seem to be closed

for fin whale meat being exported to Japan,

making all export very, very difficult.

These export
difficulties were exemplified

in 2013 when a large shipment

of Loftsson's product, due for Japan,

was denied at two major European ports.

After realizing that the containers

deceivingly marked as fish

were actually full of whale meat,

Loftsson's shipment was
sent back to Iceland.

- So, it's a mystery
in a way and a puzzle,

what drives Mr. Loftsson.

Certainly not profiting
from the fin whaling.

So it's a big question of
course, why he continues.

Even Hvalur
shareholders have been

left in the dark regarding
the company's objectives.

- It was hard to get information.

The shareholders, they were
not informed and there was

no business plan, we did not have any clue

how much had already been sold,

how much it was going to
cost to start whaling again.

I mean, it's quite costly.

You need the fuel for the ship,
salary, the transportation,

marketing, storage.

- So how sustainable
is this whole business?

I mean, how does it profit the people,

the business and the environment?

I just have serious doubts about it.

- Tourism is growing so much.

I mean, if you would compare
the streets of Reykjavik

today and ten years ago,
it's a different city.

And, of course, alongside tourism growing,

are all tourist
activities growing as well.

And whale watching is
a good example of that.

Ironically enough,
one of the only countries

that continues hunting whales,

has now been deemed the whale
watching capital of Europe.

2013 marked the year that
tourism surpassed fishing

to become the tiny
county's largest export.

And with 25 % of all tourists
going whale watching,

it has become obvious which industry

benefits Iceland the most.

There's
another one, one o'clock!

There's another minke at one o'clock.

Diving, one o'clock heading to the right.

Nine o'clock?

That's the other at nine o'clock as well.

And the other one, nine o'clock.

And this is a deep dive at two o'clock.

If you look at the ship,
the big ship sailing,

it goes in that direction,
the whale that's coming up.

- For a long time, people
doing whale watching here

believed that it could
co-exist with the whaling.

And they didn't even
see any immoral things.

- So, the more you can show
how this cannot co-exist,

then the more you can show
how much more important,

economically, image-wise
so-forth, the whale watching is.

The greater impact it has.

- So we've been fighting
to get some sanctuary for

the whales and for the whale watching.

The minister of the
fishery decided in 2009

to put a line 12 miles from Reykjavik

and where the whalers could not cross.

So they had to stay out of the area.

- And that is the main
reason why whale watching's

very important in this.

If you have several
whale watching companies

around the country, then
you make the whalers

very unwelcome in those areas.

But appreciating
these marine mammals

in their natural habitat is not enough

for the abounding tourists.

Many whale watchers decide
that they would like to see

what a whale looks like…

on their dinner plate.

- In an isolated poll on board
of a whale watching boat,

almost half of the people
going whale watching,

they would taste whale meat in Iceland

or they had tasted whale meat in Iceland.

- Many restaurants are
offering whale meat so

that's just to attract
tourists to come to their place

and eating whale meat.

- Never.

My friends would never go to
a restaurant and eat whale.

Not, like they would never say,

"Hey, let's go get whale tonight."

- I think it's mostly
a novelty for tourists.

They come here, they go whale watching,

then go to a restaurant
and taste some whale meat,

but I doubt that they're
going to repeat it.

- Like, if you're not brought
up with it, you would never go

and get a steak out of the
store and barbecue at home.

- People coming to the boat
and sometimes telling me,

"I ate it yesterday and
I want to see it today,"

and also, "I want to
see it before I eat it."

- Tourism is increasing
very much in Iceland.

We're having about 800,000
tourists this summer.

Next year we might get up to one million.

So you can imagine if 40 % of the tourists

are eating whale meat, what sort of a

disaster situation we would have here.

- When you find out that those who come

and they say they're against whaling,

are really contributing to it,

then you have a problem on your hands.

In the spring of 2013,

the minister of fisheries implemented

a whale watching sanctuary.

But the line was later repealed
when the minister's term

ended halfway through the whaling season.

- So, for the first time in
10 years there was no whaling

for this period of three months
in Faxafloi bay.

And it seems to everybody
in the whale watching

that it had very positive
effects on the minke whales.

And another
one, that's eleven! Wow.

We still have some here, very close.

- They started being more
curious about the boats,

the came closer, they were
not afraid of the boats

as they seemed to be before.

Facing a
tarnished reputation,

and a massive influx of
whale watching tourism,

Iceland's residents have to
decide if they still support

whaling in the modern age.

- Uh, I'm on both sides.

Because I like the whale
watching industry and...

I see a lot of opportunities there.

And also, this is a very old
heritage here in Iceland,

fishing whales,

so, it's a tradition.

- If we have the market
to sell the product,

then it's okay for me.

What may seem
like an archaic and outdated

practice to many around the world,

the majority of Icelandic residents

do continue to support whaling.

- I was actually surprised that

60 % of Icelanders still support whaling.

I don't know their
arguments, on what grounds.

Probably because they think
that it brings profits,

that we're actually...

getting some foreign currency

and they are not
realizing that the selling

is not that good.

- It really matters if you ask,

"Are you for or against
Icelandic whaling?"

Or if you ask, "Are you for
or against the whaling?"

There is a difference.

As soon as we have 'Icelandic' there,

what you hear is, "Are you
for or against Iceland?"

So, this has been one of the
problems, that people have

made a direct link between being Icelandic

and supporting the whaling.

- I had no idea there
were so many whales here,

and I had no idea there were so many

different species and kinds of whales.

- Yeah, my views have absolutely changed.

I think my viewpoints
changed the day that I went

and saw the first whale
brought in and cut up.

That was probably the day
that it changed for me.

Dramatically.

- I hope that this will be the last season.

The last season of
harvesting fin whales...

but there are a lot of
people that are telling me

that this is going to continue.

- There is a huge difference in attitude

in the possibilities we
have to discuss this issue.

Having 58 whale-friendly
restaurants at the moment here.

Nobody would have expected that.

- Whale-friendly.

- So I think the whaling will, yeah,

definitely get less and
less, especially because

more and more countries are banning it

and it's getting more
difficult to transport it.

But not everyone
agrees on what the future

of whaling holds for Iceland.

A few of the most vocal
whale hunting advocates

are calling for permission
to even slaughter

the beloved humpback whale.

- If Mr. Loftsson

continues his fin whaling,

and that he is granted
a quota for next year,

it will be very damaging for Iceland.

- I had not heard any good,

valid argument for whaling

from the company directors,

I have to confess that.

Hvalur was established to harvest whales.

That's what they do and

since they can do it, they do it.

Speculation
about whether the whale hunts

would continue came to an abrupt halt

on December 18th, 2013

after the Marine Research Institute

granted new whaling quotas for 2014

through 2018.

The whaling permit
allows 1145 minke whales

and 770 endangered fin whales

to be killed over the five year span.

Four months later,

Kristjan Loftsson's
Hvalur company transported

2,000 tons of endangered fin whale meat

from Iceland to Japan.

Instead of cutting through the Suez Canal,

the shortest route to Japan,

Iceland's whaling king
slithered all the way down

the west coast of Africa

and around the Cape of Good Hope.

The expensive and desperate
move meant the cargo ship

had to travel an extra 7,000 kilometers.

- It's just totally ridiculous.

It's unnecessary, it's uneconomical

and it's just inhuman.

- It demonstrates Iceland's
complete senselessness toward

its obligations on an international
level regarding whales.