Norway keeps whaling quota, draws ire

By Wojciech Moskwa

OSLO (Reuters) - Norway has set a commercial whaling quota of 1,052 minke whales in 2008, unchanged from last year, drawing criticism from environmental groups pressuring Oslo to join the international community and call off its hunts.

Norway is the only country to hunt the giant mammal commercially despite a two-decade-old moratorium by the International Whaling Commission (IWC). Iceland stopped in 2007, citing a lack of markets for whale meat.

Last year Norway harpooned 597 minke whales, or 57 percent of its quota, and its kills have remained below quota ceilings since 2001, official figures show.

"We set quotas not according to what is likely to be caught but what is sustainable," Halvard Johansen, director at Norway's Fisheries and Coastal Affairs Ministry, told Reuters on Friday.

The ministry said in a statement that it sets quotas "conservatively," ensuring "complete safety in regard to conserving minke whale stock."

Japan also catches hundreds of minkes each year but says it is for scientific purposes. A European Union official on Friday however said photographs released by Australia of whales being killed illustrated the reality of Japanese hunting.

The photos showed an adult minke whale and her calf being towed up the rear ramp of a Japanese factory processing ship in Antarctic waters.

EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas cited the pictures in calling for united EU opposition to commercial whaling.