Trade in whale meat resumes

A shipment of whale products left Norway for Iceland in late June, Norway’s first whale meat export in 14 years.

The shipment contained eight tonnes of meat and blubber from minke whales.

“It’s good to be back on track. This is an appetizer for the Icelanders, and I am confident that they will like it and ask for more,” said Ole Mindor Myklebust of Myklebust Trading AS.

Last year, Norway decided to lift its self-imposed export ban on whale products.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) has placed the minke whale on its trade ban list. But Iceland and Norway maintain they should be exempt from this ban because their stocks aren’t endangered and don’t fall under this listing.

International scientists say these two North Atlantic stocks contain more than 100,000 minke whales. Globally, the number of minke whales is believed to number more than one million.

“Some people don’t like this trade. Since they don’t like whaling either one can’t expect otherwise. Honestly, it doesn’t really bother us much. Besides being legal, what is important is that the trade is well controlled and conducted in a sustainable manner. This is certainly the case for this whale trade,” said Rune Frøvik, Secretary of the High North Alliance, a Norwegian lobby group for whaling.