Whaling and sealing have since earliest times formed an important part of the economic basis for settlement along the Norwegian coast. Research, regulation, and controls today make Norwegian whaling a very environmentally-sound means of food production.
Minke whales are caught by fishermen during the summer months, the low season for fishing. A whaling vessel is an ordinary fishing boat, approximately 50 to 80 feet long and specially fitted out for whaling. The boats are generally run as family businesses, with a crew of between three and eight, including the owner.
Minke whale meat is used for human consumption. Norway has a long tradition of eating whale meat, and both whale meat and blubber also form part of traditional diets in other parts of the world.
The minke whale is the smallest of the baleen whales, and minke whaling is entirely different from the industrial, capital-intensive whaling of the past, which targeted the large whale species and where whale oil was the most important product. This form of whaling has long been consigned to the history books.
A “green” industry
The use of equipment that enables selective catching of marine fish and mammals is perhaps the most environmentally-sound means of producing food for human consumption today: the environment remains unaffected, energy use is low in relation to yield, and there is no pollution from fertilisers, pesticides, or other chemicals. All harvesting must of course be the subject of reasonable limits, so that stocks are not wiped out. The minke whale is not an endangered species in Norwegian waters: internationally-approved estimates number the stock from which Norwegian fishermen harvest at more than 100 000 animals.
Research
In the mid-1980s, there was a great deal of uncertainty about the level of the Northeast Atlantic minke whale stock. In order to improve knowledge about the stock, the Norwegian authorities initiated a research programme stretching over several years. The programme included sighting surveys and, from 1989 onwards, these were incorporated into a more extensive five-year research programme covering seals as well as whales. The programme was designed not only to provide information on the state of the different stocks, but also on their role in marine ecosystems.
The methodology and results of these programmes were discussed by the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1990, and subsequently approved by it. On the basis of the 1995 surveys, the Scientific Committee calculated the Northeast Atlantic minke whale stock to number approximately 112 000 animals.
Norway and the IWC
In 1982, the IWC adopted a temporary moratorium on the commercial whaling of all whale species, effective from 1986. Norway formally reserved its position on the moratorium, but nevertheless introduced a temporary ban on minke whaling pending more reliable information on the state of stocks. Norway’s temporary ban took effect in 1987.
The temporary moratorium provided that “by 1990 at the latest the Commission will undertake a comprehensive assessment of the effects of this decision on whale stocks and consider modification of [the moratorium] and the establishment of other catch limits.” By this deadline, new, more reliable assessments of the stocks from which catches might be taken, as well as a Revised Management Procedure (RMP) for these stocks, were to be prepared. The Scientific Committee fulfilled both of these requirements, but the Commission has nevertheless been unwilling to re-evaluate the moratorium and catch quotas at its annual meetings since 1990. Instead, it has specified new conditions that are to be fulfilled before catch quotas can be discussed.
In the face of such delaying tactics, the Norwegian government unilaterally decided to resume whaling in 1993. An annual quota is set on the basis of the Scientific Committee’s RMP. The quota for 2006 is 1052 animals.
Norway’s legal right to hunt minke whales is not disputed, as Norway reserved its position on the temporary moratorium when it was adopted by the IWC. This reservation was made pursuant to Article V of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, the agreement on which the establishment and activities of the IWC are based. The moratorium is not legally binding on any member country today, as the Commission has not been willing to carry out the scientifically-based assessment that was a condition of continuing the moratorium beyond 1990.
The Convention was concluded, as stated in its preamble, "to provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry". In other words, the objective of the Convention is not to protect whales for their own sake, but to regulate catches of whales in a way that safeguards the present and future interests of mankind. The position of IWC member countries that oppose whaling on principle and regardless of the size of the stocks concerned conflicts with the Commission's own objectives.
Killing methods
The IWC has focused significant attention on efforts to improve minke whaling methods, to ensure that the animals are killed as quickly as possible. Norway has played a leading role in pushing these efforts forward. The methods now used are as good as or better than those in other forms of big-game hunting, in relation both to how long an animal takes to die and to the percentage of animals that are wounded without being killed.
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A minke whale catch regulated on a sustainable basis is, as explained above, an environmentally-sound means of food production. The call to halt all whaling serves to stifle discussion of the real environmental policy challenges that humanity faces.
By the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs