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Norwegian whalers make first catch of season

Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:07pm EDT
OSLO, April 30 (Reuters) - Norwegian whalers shot the first whale of the season on Wednesday of a quota of 1,052, a group opposed to the hunts said. Norway, with Japan the main whaling nation despite an international moratorium, resumed commercial hunts in 1993 and says that the minke whales it harpoons are plentiful in the north Atlantic.

"This morning, Norwegian whalers made the first kill of the season -- a calf," the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) said in a statement. It said the whale was shot by the Jan Bjoern vessel.

Whalers were not immediately available for comment. The meat is typically consumed as steaks.

The WSPA said that a survey it carried out indicated that only one in four Norwegians under the age of 30 strongly supported the continuation of whaling.

The first whaling boats went out last week, according to the High North Alliance, which supports whalers. The whaling season off Norway stretches from April to August.

-- For Reuters latest environment blogs click on: blogs.reuters.com/environment/ (Editing by Richard Balmforth,





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