Norwegian whalers kill 182 minke whales
The bloody slaughter of minke whales continues off the coast of Norway, with Norwegian whalers taking their tally to 182 whales killed (compared to 285 this same time last year). There are now 16 vessels actively taking part in the hunt which began in April. According to reports 10 metric tons of whale meat was offloaded by one vessel at the dock in Steine in late May, with the ship’s skipper stating that they only saw male whales whilst out on the water, and that they were lean at this time of year. Whale meat has already been offloaded in both Henningsvaer and Skrova.
Despite declining sales of whale meat within the country, Norway continues to hunts minke whales under ‘objection’ to the international ban on commercial whaling. It sets its own quota (number of whales it will kill each year) and also sells meat to Japan. Some of that meat was recently dumped by Japanese officials after routine tests revealed that it contained up to twice the allowed level of potentially dangerous pesticides.