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Opposing whaling is bad environmentalism says Norway : have you ever heard such bullshit?!

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Opposing whaling is " bad " environmentalism - Oslo

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NORWAY: June 13, 2003

 

 

OSLO - Norway defended its whale hunts but said it had scant hope of winning

support at an international meeting next week for its policy on whaling.

 

 

 

Norway resumed commercial catches of minke whales in 1993, ignoring a

moratorium by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) which will hold its

annual meeting in Berlin on June 16-19 to review policy.

 

" We understand that there's political opposition (to whaling at the IWC),

but it's bad environmental policy, " Fisheries Minister Svein Ludvigsen told

Reuters.

 

He predicted a tough battle to persuade the IWC that Norway's hunts, of 711

minke whales in the northeast Atlantic this year, did not threaten stocks.

Norway has argued the case in vain for more than a decade.

 

" It will be difficult to win acceptance (in Berlin) that this is the right

way to manage the ecosystem, " Ludvigsen said.

 

" All theories about managing ecosystems mean that we should be allowed to

harvest " whales, he said. " I will be saddened if we do not get recognition

of this in Berlin. "

 

The IWC's scientific committee estimates that minke whales, harpooned by

Norway and Japan and eaten as steaks, are relatively plentiful - unlike

species including the giant blue whale which are close to extinction.

 

Oslo reckons the IWC has been hijacked by countries seeking continued

protection for all whales under what Oslo views as wrong-headed emotional

arguments, such as that humans should respect the planet's biggest mammals

and leave them in peace.

 

Norway, which regards whales as just another resource like cod, says the

IWC's job should be to permit harpooning whenever there are enough whales in

the oceans.

 

 

 

Story by Alister Doyle

 

 

 

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE

 

 

 

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