Norway kills first whale of 2007 hunt

Norway has killed the first minke of its 2007 whaling quota. The animal was hunted down on the 22nd of April by the whaling vessel the Jan Bjorn, captained by Jan Kristiansen. Until recently, Kristiansen served as head of the Norwegian Minke Whalers Association. The boat off-loaded its whale meat to the John Arntzen company in Skrova on the 24th.

Local fisheries news sources in Norway say that the hunt is well underway, with five boats operating off Finnmark, two off Nordsjoen and one operating in the Vestfjorden area. WDCS has learned that three new whaling vessels have joined the Norwegian fleet this year, bringing to a total of 32 the number of boats that have been issued with whaling permits by the Fisheries Directorate. While not all vessels with whaling licenses participate in the hunt, WDCS feels that this is a worrying trend given the increased coastal quota this year. For 2007, the allowance in mainland coastal waters has been increased to 900 minke whales, up 30% from 609 in 2006, while the Jan Mayen quota has been reduced to 152 whales.

Despite an international ban on commercial whaling, Norway has continued to hunt minke whales in the North Atlantic since 1993 through a legal ‘objection’ lodged against the ban. “Norway has raised its self-allocated quota year after year, despite international condemnation of its commercial whaling. But demand is falling for whale meat in Norway, like everywhere else, and last years’ season showed that this is a wasteful and unnecessary industry. We hope that this year they again fail to kill the number of animals they have allocated and consider stopping the hunt altogether,” commented Sue Fisher from WDCS.

In an effort to boost sales, whalers and whale meat buyers are each being charged 50 ore per kilo of whale meat which will go towards the marketing of minke whale meat to consumers (see www.hvalbiff.no).

Additionally, coastal hunts are more likely to come into contact with whale-watching operations. In July last year, whalers killed a minke whale in front of a boat load of whale- watching tourists. WDCS’s Sue Fisher continued “Whale watching is becoming increasingly valuable and Norway, like Iceland, is risking this industry for the sake of one off profits from the sale of meat.”