Sea turns red as whales die to satisfy lust of gourmets

THE inky waters of an Icelandic fjord are eerily calm until sliced by the ominous shape of a giant dorsal fin. 

A second fin breaks the surface then a third followed by a bellowing rasp as a tower of water vapour shoots into the air. 

The Northern Hemisphere’s most spectacular natural event has begun. 

As many as 30 orca are homing in on a shoal of herring and watching them are spellbound tourists who have paid handsomely to witness the world’s most formidable predator up close and personal. 

Iceland has some of the best whale watching and last year as many as 175,000 tourists, a large number from the UK, boarded a flotilla of launches to photograph and simply marvel at these magnificent sea mammals and not just orca. 

Tragically, for far too many visitors to this volcanic outpost, there is one other life experience on the menu: eating the very creatures that fill so many with such joyous emotions. 

Minutes after climbing off Reykjavik’s whale-watching boats, tourists are confronted with signs advertising whale meat. A harbour-side tapas bar offers whale in cranberry while a fine-dining restaurant has grilled minke whale with mushroom pomme anne and Brennivin (blueberry) sauce at 5,500 Icelandic Krona, approximately £30. 

The international whaling moratorium makes such menus illegal in the UK but Iceland not only serves up whale but also hunts the animals using methods that conservationists describe as barbaric and cruel. 

Continued: http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/398908/Sea-turns-red-as-whales-die-to-satisfy-lust-of-gourmets