Norway plans to kill 1052 minke whales

While the world has been concentrating to complain about the Japanese hunting whales it might have gone almost unnoticed that Norway is continuing its own whaling program in 2008 with over 1000 minke whales targeted.

'Norway has set its whaling quota for 2008 at 1052 minke whales. The quota was the same as in 2007, and included 97 whales that were not caught during the whaling seasons 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, Norway's Fisheries Ministry said.

The ministry said 900 whales would be allowed to be caught in coastal areas including the North Sea, the Barents Sea and the area around Svalbard. Hunting conditions are impacted by weather conditions as well as high fuel costs.

In recent years, whalers 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.'

Contributed by Tim Hochgrebe added 2008-02-09