Tourist Chains Himself to Icelandic Whaling Ship

6th June Update: After 15 Hours Activist Ends Lock­down Due to Threats

A 32-year-old unnamed activist from Berlin from the orga­ni­za­tion Hard to Port chained him­self to the mast of Ice­landic whal­ing ship Hval­ur 8 this morn­ing and has declared that he will remain there for at least 48 hours in protest of whal­ing.

“Work­ers seem irri­tat­ed. Col­lec­tive brain­storm­ing how to deal with me up here. First whale watch­ing tourists stop by to take pic­tures and show sup­port,” the activist post­ed on Face­book this morn­ing.

Hard to Port released a state­ment to the media, explain­ing their inten­tion to: “…raise aware­ness among poten­tial tourists of Ice­land world­wide of the cru­el and uneth­i­cal prac­tice [of whal­ing].”

Hval­ur 8 is docked at the ship­yard in Reyk­javík in prepa­ra­tion for the upcom­ing whal­ing sea­son, which begins this month. The quo­ta for fin whales is 154 ani­mals and their hunt­ing will result in sig­nif­i­cant work on sea and land, Morgun­blaðið reports.