Norwegian fleets kill 25 whales in season's start

OSLO - Norwegian fishermen harpooned 25 whales in the first week of the country's much condemned whaling season that this year allows the biggest hunting quota for more than 10 years, a whalers' spokesman said.

Norway is the only nation to permit commercial whaling after breaking with a 1986 International Whaling Commission moratorium in 1993. Environmental groups condemn the increasing quotas and shrinking monitoring of whalers.

"Norway should be condemned for sanctioning the cruelty that whaling represents," said Kitty Block, a spokeswoman for Whalewatch, which says it represents 140 anti-whaling groups in 55 nations.

She added Norway's whalers were under less surveillance this season because many were no longer obliged to have a government inspector aboard.

Instead, they have an electronic "blue box" meant to monitor activities on ship.

Critics say the "blue box" is unable to record how long it takes from the moment the harpoon hits to the moment of death but the Norwegian government maintains almost all whales die instantly when struck by a harpoon tipped with a grenade.

The quota for the 2005 season, which started on April 18, allows whalers 796 Minke whales, up from last year's 670.

Rune Froevik, a spokesman of the High North Alliance which represents whalers and coastal hunting communities in the Arctic, confirmed 25 whales had already been caught this season.

Norway says minke whales, unlike protected giant blue or sperm whales, are not endangered because their numbers in the North Atlantic have risen above 100,000. The meat is sold as steaks in Norwegian supermarkets.

Environmental group Greenpeace said Norway should stop whaling and focus instead on overfishing and pollution threats from oil and gas exploration off the Norwegian coast.

Both Japan and Iceland catch whales for what they call scientific research. Japan caught 440 minkes in the Antarctic in its last season and Iceland had a quota of 25 in 2004. The meat also ends up in restaurants.

- REUTERS