Norway's whale blubber may be too toxic to sell

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Saturday, May 12, 2001

 

International

 

Norway whale blubber may be too toxic to sell

That would be bitter pill with prices soaring

 

 

Doug Mellgren - Associated Press

 

 

OSLO, Norway -- The price of Norwegian whale blubber, all but worthless a

year ago, soared Friday as hunters in this Scandinavian country were

harpooning the first whales of the season with the hope of strong sales to

Japan.

 

But anticipation among the whalers over what could be their first whale

exports in more than 15 years was tempered by fears that the blubber was so

tainted by environmental toxins that key markets might reject it.

 

" I am optimistic, " Rune Froevik, of the pro-whaling High North Alliance,

said about the prospect of exports. " I think things might move quickly and

exports would allow use of the whole animal. "

 

The Norwegian Fish Sales Association on Friday offered up to $2.88 per pound

for choicest blubber, a staggering increase on the 0.5 cents a pound last

year.

 

But the association made the offer of the higher price contingent on the

official resumption of exports. Until then, whalers will get 35 cents per

pound.

 

The government announced it would lift a ban on whale product exports in

January, but the process was stalled after preliminary tests showed elevated

levels of toxins in some blubber.

 

In March, the Norwegian Fisheries Directorate announced that samples tested

from five whales had blubber with such high dioxin and dioxin-like PCBs --

polychlorinated biphenyls -- that limited consumption was recommended.

 

The government ordered additional tests, and it was unclear when the results

would be available. No export permits will be issued in the meantime.

 

Norwegians eat the red meat of whales but have no taste or use for the

blubber, which is frozen in warehouses.

 

So the ban on exports, imposed out of fear of an international backlash,

left whalers with as much as 800 tons of frozen whale blubber. That could be

worth tens of millions of dollars in Japan, where it is a sought-after

delicacy.

 

But the uncertainty has made some Japanese consumers skeptical.

 

" We cannot allow any imports of tainted whale blubber, " Hiroko Mizuhara of

the Japanese Consumers Union said recently in Tokyo.

 

The Nordic country has faced protests, sanction threats, sabotage and high

seas confrontations with conservationists.

 

The first of some 30 whaling boats began the year's hunt in recent days off

southern Norway.

 

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