AWI Rallies for Whales in Maine

AWI was joined by local whale advocates in Portland, Maine, on May 31, 2013, to protest Iceland’s expanding commercial whaling program and plan to resume fi n whaling. The rally coincided with Maine’s International Trade Day, featuring the president of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, who gave a keynote speech at a noon luncheon. He spent the afternoon touring the recently renovated Port of Portland before attending a reception at the Portland facilities of Eimskip, Iceland's oldest shipping company. Eimskip recently made Portland its only port of call in the United States, with 5,000 containers expected to pass through Portland annually. Eimskip has already begun delivering fi sh and other products exported to the United States by companies linked to the Icelandic whaling company, Hvalur. Rally attendees armed with infl atable whales and signs lined the route to the port and hundreds of passing cars honked in support.