“This year too, we have decided on a quota

which guarantees continuity and a good framework for the whaling sector,”

said Fisheries Minister Elisabeth Aspaker, writes Phys.org.

Norway is not the only one in the

discussion of whale hunting. On Monday the International Court of Justice(ICJ)

in the Hague ordered Japan to end Antarctic whaling. Phys.org reported

that on Thursday Japan said it would honor Monday’s judgement from ICJ and

canceled its annual Antarctic whaling hunt for the first time in more than 20

years. Japan has used a legal loophole in the 1986 ban on commercial whaling

that allowed it to continue whaling to gather scientific data. But the doubt of

whether the whale meat goes to laboratory or dinner table has never stopped.

Unlike Japan, whaling in Norway is

conducted commercially without any claim for research or other justification, claims International Whaling Commission.

According to the International Whaling

Commission(IWC), in 1982 they decided that there should be a pause in

commercial from the 1985/1986 season onwards, often referred to as the

commercial whaling moratorium. This moratorium bounds most of the members of

IWC. But Norway objected and has never stopped whale hunting. In the IWC’s data

for catches taken under objection or under reservation, Norway is the only country in the world that is on this list for 12

years, from 1993 to 2005. Iceland joined in since 2006, but Norway still

occupies around 90% of the total catches.

In 2013, reports Phys.org, 594 whales

were killed, far way from the quota. It seems the demand for whales is

declining, which makes it more difficult for the county to defense itself on

keeping a high quota when the market doesn’t even want it. Allvocies says

Norwegians consume the whale meat, but not the whale blubber, most of which is

wasted. There is no big export demand for whale meat as the whole EU has banned

commercial whaling for a long time.The only market importing Norwegian

whale-meat is Japan.

Noway has always enjoyed a high

reputation in ethical issues, a model of democracy that many countries look up

to. The famous Government Pension Fund of Norway, has banned tobacco and is

under discussion on banning fossil fuels. NOK 10 billion has been lost due to

ethical considerations from the fund.