"Iceland will not join the EU", Icelandic veteran whaler said.

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Whale meat kebabs, Reykjavik

Worried their controversial livelihoods will be sacrificed on the altar of membership negotiations, Icelandic whalers are leading a rebellion against their country's European Union candidacy.

The official launch of membership negotiations with Brussels last month revived the debate around whaling in Iceland, which along with Japan and Norway figures among the world's only nations to authorise the hunt.

The EU Commission has voiced its opposition to whaling, insisting it is not compatible with membership, with Germany going so far as to say outlawing whaling is a prerequisite for Iceland's EU bid.

But in Reykjavik, Iceland's whalers could not care less.

"Iceland will not join the EU, so it's no problem," said Kristjan Loftsson, a veteran whaler who heads Hvalur, a company that runs two ships out of Hvalfjord, or "the whale fjord," on the country's western coast.

He is convinced Icelanders will reject membership because their views are so drastically opposed due to the EU's intransigence when it comes to management of marine resources, which have become even more important for the 320,000 Icelanders since their banking system collapsed at the end of 2008.

"The EU doesn't know how to manage living resources. The management of fisheries in the EU is the worst example you can find of managing natural resources and Iceland is not going to join that nonsense," Loftsson insisted.

Iceland judges its whale population abundant enough to withstand the harpooning of a limited number of animals -- 150 fin whales and 200 minke whales per year -- while EU members support a 1986 moratorium on all commercial whaling.

Like all "big whales", fin and minke whales are on the list of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. Their numbers are estimated at 20,000 and 70,000 respectively in the North Atlantic.

Loftsson meanwhile claims anti-whaling countries are simply trying to earn the sympathy of voters at home.

"It's all politics. It has nothing to do with common sense or science," he said.

Tomas Heidar, the Icelandic representative at the International Whaling Commission, sees three reasons to continue hunting whales.

First of all, he said, whaling represents a sizeable contribution to Iceland's still struggling economy.

Also, he told AFP, killing off whales helps the country's economy indirectly by eliminating a competitor to the country's important fishing fleets.

But most importantly, he said, "it's a question of principle."

"A coastal state has the right to sustainably utilise all living marine resources," he said, amazed that "some regard the sea as a zoo that's not there to utilise but to protect."

Icelanders, who already feel they were treated unfairly in a heated dispute with Britain and the Netherlands over compensation for the collapse of the online Icesave bank, may react strongly in to a new disagreement, he warned.

"If harsh statements are made on the other side, they may turn this issue into a matter of national pride and sovereignty," Heidar said.

"Hopefully we will be able to find a solution. We hope that the EU will appreciate that there are special traditions in Northern Europe," he added.

A survey published in June showed 60 percent of Icelanders were against joining the EU, compared to only 26 percent who supported the move.

In Reykjavik, at the charming 3 Frakkar (Three Raincoats) restaurant that serves whale pepper steaks and sashimi to locals and tourists alike, EU membership is not an appetising subject.

"I love whale meat. It's the healthiest red meat in the world. There is no drugs in it," owner Ulfar Eysteinsson told AFP.

"If we join the EU," he said flatly, "I close the restaurant."