Norman Baker MP Member of Parliament for Lewes constituency
|Home
Contact Norman at:
Norman Baker,
23 East Street,
Lewes,
East Sussex,
BN7 2LJ.
Tel: (01273) 480281.
Fax: (01273) 480287.
Email: info
This website has been partly paid for from the funds made available to every MP to assist them in communicating with and representing their constituents.
Printed and hosted by Pipex Communications UK Ltd, Humber Buildings, Humber Rd, Beeston, Notts, NG9 2ET. Published and promoted by Norman Baker MP, House of Commons, Westminster, London SW1A 1AA. The views expressed are those of Norman Baker, not of the service provider.
Local MP On Icelandic Whale Saving Mission
Lewes MP, Norman Baker, is travelling to Iceland this Monday with the International Fund For Animal Welfare (IFAW) to help save whales from renewed hunting.
Norman will join a cross-party delegation of British and German MPs travelling to Iceland (26th-29th July) with IFAW to meet local politicians and public figures and learn about the plight of the whales. During the trip they will visit IFAW's research boat, Song of the Whale, currently studying blue whales around Iceland, and learn about the success of Iceland's whale watching industry.
Iceland resumed "scientific" whaling in 2003 in defiance of an international ban, and has since killed over 60 minke whales in its coastal waters. Three-quarters of Icelanders support whaling but there is a growing debate within the country about its impact on tourism and Iceland's international reputation.
British MPs will visit the Icelandic Parliament and the Husavik Whale Centre, as well as attending a reception with the British and German Embassies. The highlight of their trip will be a whale watching tour where they hope to see some of the very minke whales threatened by the harpoon.
Whale watching has been a huge success in Iceland and has developed rapidly into a major industry in the last ten years. A total of 72,000 tourists went on a whale watching trips in 2003 and IFAW believes that keeping whales alive is more beneficial to the Icelandic government and economy than killing them.
Norman Baker MP said:
"The British Government is totally opposed to whaling and I know that people in my constituency feel very strongly about it. I will be using this trip to politely point out to the Icelandic that whaling does not have international support and is not in their own interests."