The Icelandic Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture is to investigate further into the alleged illegal exports of whale products from Iceland based on information from the Statistics Iceland website as it now now thought it was exports of fish meal and not whale meat (see original report below)

Icelands' illegal whale meat exports to EU

Data from Statistics Iceland state that the country is exporting whale meat to Latvia, Denmark and Japan in defiance of international law and a global whaling ban.

Exports to Denmark and Latvia are contrary to EU law, even if the products are re-exported. International trade in whale products is banned by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Latvian authorities have promised a full investigation. There is the possibility the products concerned are likely to be from fin whales. Both Latvia and Denmark are members of the European Union.

The importation of whale products into the EU would be a violation of both the EU Habitats Directive and the EU CITES Regulation. In addition, this trade would be illegal under CITES, of which Iceland, Latvia and Denmark are members.