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Norwegian minke whaling season due to open
Mar 30, 2007, 11:51 GMT
Oslo - The Norwegian whaling season was slated to open Sunday with a total quota of 1,052 minke whales, the Fisheries Ministry said Friday.
The quota was the same as in 2006, but the ministry said it had allowed more whales to be caught in coastal areas increasing that number from some 600 to 900 whales.
The coastal areas include the North Sea, the Barents Sea and the area around Svalbard.
The total quota included 97 whales that were not caught during the whaling seasons 2004, 2005 and 2006.
Last year, poor weather in May affected hunting conditions, and fewer whales were caught.
The season ends September 1 but the quality of the meat decreases as the season progresses since the meat gets too fat.
High fuel costs have also meant that whalers in recent years have often refrained from travelling to the zone around the island of Jan Mayen, north-east of Iceland.
Norway resumed whaling in 1993, arguing that hunting is necessary to prevent the minke whale population from growing so large that it threatens fish stocks.
Minke whales are the smallest of the seven great whales. They are up to 11 metres long, and can weigh about 8 tons.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
page: 1
Norway should be congratulated for its modern day whaling operations, which are a fine example of sustainable natural resource use. We need more nations like Norway, so that we can eliminate the need for unsustainable over exploitation of resources. The question is can the 'greenies' accept that the sustainable whaling of the 21st century is something to be welcomed, not resisted? Its the environment that we must put first.
I wonder why news agencies always say caught instead of killed and canned?
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Shame on Norway!Apr 1st, 2007 - 07:14:02
Here is another example of a modern, progressive country pursuing agendas that make no sense at all. Whaling has NO place in a World tettering on the brink of environmental disaster.
Okay, many will say this alarmist talk but there are tragic examples all over the World that our natural ecosystems that we have taken for granted for too long, are at the point of collapse.
Norway only has to look at the disaster in the North Sea to realise the magnitude of the problem. The North Sea, once a major fishing resource, is a disaster. Is Norway so myopic that it can't see even what has happened right under its nose?
It is time for Norway to desist on whaling or it will increasingly court the wrath of a more enlightened World community!
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