Whaling in Norway

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Year	Quota	Catch
1994	319	280
1995	232	218
1996	425	388
1997	580	503
1998	671	625
1999	753	591
2000	655	487
2001	549	550
2002	671	634
2003	711	646
2004	670	541
2005	797	639
2006	1052	546

Norwegian Minke Whale Quotas (blue line, 1994-2006) and Catches (red line, 1946.2005) in Numbers (from official Norwegian statistics)

Whaling in Norway is a centuries long tradition in Northern Norway. Only Minke whaling is permitted, from a population of 110,000 animals in the North east Atlantic and is argued by proponents and government officials to be sustainable . Still it has been frequently criticized by foreigners and animal right groups as Norway, among Iceland and Japan, is one of few countries that still allow whaling.

Norway registered an objection to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) commercial whaling moratorium, and is thus not bound by it. In 1993, Norway resumed a commercial catch, following a period of five years where a small catch was made under scientific permit. Norwegian Minke whale catches have fluctuated between 503 animals in 1997 to 639 in 2005.

Prior to the moratorium, Norway caught around 2,000 Minkes per year. The North Atlantic hunt is divided into five areas and usually lasts from early May to late August. Norway has exported a limited amount of whale meat to the Faroes and Iceland. It has been attempting to export to Japan for several years, though this has been hampered by concerns in the Japanese domestic market about the effects of pollution in the blubber of the North Atlantic Minke whale.

In May 2004, the Norwegian Parliament passed a resolution to considerably increase the number of Minkes hunted each year. The Ministry of Fisheries also initiated a satellite tracking programme of various whale species to monitor migration patterns and diving behaviour. The tagging research program has been under way since 1999.^[1]

[edit] Controversy

Animal rights and anti-whaling groups have commented that given Norway's economic position it is paradoxical that this is one of a very small number of countries actively engaged in, and favouring the continuation of, commercial whaling. This is despite the argued negligible contribution that whaling makes to the economy, and despite opposition from around the world. ^[2] Many supporters of whaling agree that its macroeconomic importance is negligible, but hold that the livelihood of individuals and small firms depend on it and that sustainable development depends on human harvesting of all non-endangered species,^[3] and that it is an important part of culture in coastal areas. Norway's whaling today is limited to the non-endangered Minke Whale, which are killed using explosive penthricite grenade harpoons, which also accounts for more than 90% of the catch in Norwegian waters since the 1920s.