Conservationists have condemned Norway鈥檚 decision to , describing the move as unjustified and 鈥減olitical posturing鈥�.
, the country鈥檚 fisheries minister, announced on Friday that Norwegian whalers would be allowed to catch 1286 of the marine mammals in 2010 鈥� up from 885 this year.
鈥淲e were expecting Norway to either keep the same quota or reduce it, given the lack of demand for whale meat,鈥� said Kate O鈥機onnell at the .
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O鈥機onnell and other conservationists are particularly surprised by the decision because Norway caught just 50聽per cent of its minke quota this year. They fear the move could encourage Japan to follow suit.
鈥淓ven though the hunt was reopened and even extended to the end of September, well beyond the normal closing date of 31 August, the whalers simply could not find buyers for their meat,鈥� she said.
Indeed demand for whale meat was so low in June that the temporarily to all whale hunts.
Berg鈥檚 announcement, at the annual meeting of the Norwegian Minke Whalers鈥� Union in Svolv忙r, coincided with a closed-door meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) support group in Seattle, Washington, to discuss whale management prior to the IWC鈥檚 in June next year.
鈥楶olitical posturing鈥�
It鈥檚 not just Norway that has been upping the ante. Between 2008 and 2009, the number of minke whales killed by Japan in Antarctica jumped from 551 to 679, while Iceland raised its quota from 40 to 200.
Japan鈥檚 extra kills and an increase in imports from Iceland and Norway led to a glut of meat on the Japanese market.
鈥淲ith all this meat flooding the market, Norway鈥檚 decision to raise its quota next year makes absolutely no sense,鈥� said O鈥機onnell. 鈥淭his is nothing more than political posturing, but it could have devastating consequences, especially if Japan decides to follow Norway and Iceland and up its own whale quotas.鈥�
Just over a fortnight ago, the Japanese whaling fleet set sail for the , a whale reserve set up by the IWC in 1994 where the Japanese can kill up to 935 minke whales every year.
The Norwegians hunt the , which as its name suggests is not endangered. Not enough is known about the for its conservation status to be classified on the Red List of Threatened Species maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
