Norway's Whale Catch Up Slightly, Quota Unfilled
Date: 03-Sep-07
Country: NORWAY
Author: Aasa Christine Stoltz
Norway and Iceland are the only nations to allow
"commercial" whale hunts despite a two-decade moratorium on
whaling by the International Whaling Commission. Japan catches
hundreds of minke whales but says it is for scientific purposes.
"A total of 592 whales have been caught in 2007," Harald
Dahl of Norway's fishing association said. That is an increase
of 47 whales from last year, when 545 whales were harpooned.
Rune Sroevik, a spokesman for the High North Alliance, which
represents whalers' interests, said this year's catch had been
limited by government rules imposed after the season started.
"If this had not happened, I would estimate that about 200
more whales could have been caught," Sroevik said, adding that
weather had been good for this year's hunt, which ended on
Friday.
Area quotas were imposed on whalers after 165 of the marine
mammals were caught at the start of the season. The regulations
are in line with recommendations made in the early 1990s by the
77-member International Whaling Commission (IWC), the Ministry
of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs said.
Norwegian media reported on Friday that a whaling ship in the
Lofoten isles of northern Norway had sunk, and that police did
not rule out sabotage. Instructions in Norwegian on "How to sink
a whale ship" can easily be found online.
DECLINING DEMAND
Environmental group Greenpeace, which condemns whaling, said
declining demand explained why fewer whales had been caught than
the quota set by the Norwegian government allowed.
"Whalers have been stopped by economic interest because
there is no market for whale meat in Norway or elsewhere. Even
if they could catch more ... they chose not to," said Truls
Gulowsen, manager of Greenpeace Norway.
Though its whalers landed only half their quota for the
second season in a row, Norway says minke whales are plentiful
in the North Atlantic, unlike blue whales, which were hunted to
the brink of extinction before the IWC's 1986 moratorium.
"If we are to reach the target ... we have to make sure we
do not catch more than the quota in areas where availability has
been quite good ... to leave some for next year," said Halvard
Peter Johnasen, department director at the ministry.
Norway, which resumed commercial hunting of minke whales in
1993 despite the moratorium, angered many nations by raising its
quota in 2006 to over 1,000, the highest in two decades.
The area restrictions mean extra travel time for whalers to
get to waters further off the coast. Hunters did not catch a
single whale of a quota of 152 around the North Atlantic island
of Jan Mayen, halfway to Greenland.
Sroevik said that despite the regulations, 2007 had still
proved to be a better season than 2006 for the whalers.
"Prices have increased, more volume has been caught. Weather
conditions have been good compared to 2006," he said.
"Last year, the weather played the whalers a trick. This
year the weather and the market have played on their team, but
political regulations have not," he said.
Dahl said the average whale meat price per kilo rose to
31.86 Norwegian crowns (US$5.48) from 30.11 crowns in 2006 and was
likely to end up above 32 crowns.
