Export of Norwegian whale products
The Norwegian Government has decided to allow the export of minke whale products. Export licences will be made subject to specific conditions. Export will only be permitted to countries that grant import licences and that are able to carry out DNA tests of the products. These tests will make it possible to trace individual minke whales that have been taken as part of the Norwegian quota.
The Government’s decision
The Government has decided to allow the granting of export licences for Norwegian minke whale products. This decision is in keeping with the long-term perspectives of Norwegian whaling policy, which aims to normalize the whaling industry and its operating conditions.
General background
In 1983 minke whales were included in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Norway entered a reservation against this listing because it was not justified on scientific grounds, which is the criterion required according to CITES’ own rules.
Norway resumed commercial hunting of two stocks of minke whales in 1993. The Norwegian reservation against the moratorium introduced by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) provides Norway with a sound basis in international law for hunting whales. In accordance with the provisions of the Convention on the Law of the Sea, whaling is carried out in the Norwegian fisheries jurisdiction areas, i.e. the Economic Zone of Norway and the fisheries zone around Jan Mayen.
Sustainable resource management
Norwegian resource management is based on the principle of the sustainable use of natural resources. The harvesting of marine resources is based on scientific criteria, and this principle must also apply to whales.
According to estimates carried out by the Scientific Committee of the IWC, the Northeast Atlantic stock of minke whales number 112 000 whales. The other stock of minke whales in question – the North Atlantic Central stock – is estimated by the Scientific Committee of the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO) to number 72 000 whales. This is a sound basis for sustainable harvesting.
The annual whaling quotas are set by the Government. The size of the catch is based on the recommendations of the Scientific Committee of the IWC. The quota for this year is 671 whales.
Trade is a logical consequence of sustainable resource management. Norway’s reservation against the listing in CITES provides the country with a sound basis in international law for exporting whale products.
DNA registration of minke whale products
Norway has establishied a DNA-based register for all whales that are part of the Norwegian minke whale catch. Samples have been taken from all whales caught in Norwegian waters in the last few years. There is a rapid test that can establish whether the product in question was originally part of the Norwegian catch.
The register will be used to monitor trade in Norwegian minke whale products and will make it possible to distinguish trade in such products from trade in whale products from other sources.
