[This is a great reason to boycott any product coming
out of Norway!!! Rick ]
Seal-hunting becomes tourist sport in Norway
OSLO (AFP) Jan 27, 2005
Amidst scathing criticism from environmental groups,
Norway has given
the
green light for foreign tourists to hunt seals in the
Scandinavian
country,
officials said on Thursday.
"Based on a parliamentary decision last year, we are
authorizing
foreign
hunters, and I emphasize hunters because they must
have a hunting
license,
to come hunt seals here if they are accompanied by a
Norwegian hunting
company," Sigbjoern Larsen, a spokesman for the
ministry of fisheries
and
coastal affairs, told AFP.
Norway decided last year to permit specialized tour
operators to ferry
in
seal-hunters from abroad, and this month issued the
official
authorization
to let the hunts begin.
"We have long lists and will get started as soon as
the weather
permits,
something we expect to happen in the beginning of
March. Then we'll
continue
through April 15," Roger Eidem of tour operator
Norsafari told
Norwegian the
daily Broennoeysunds Avis.
The Norwegian government insists that too many seals
damage the
country's
fishing industry and also harm the seals themselves,
and has fixed a
quota
of about 2,100 authorized killings per year.
"When there are too many seals, they eat a lot of fish
and illnesses
spread
amongst the animals," Larsen said, pointing out that
local hunters have
generally not been able to meet the quota.
"Now foreign hunters can help cull the seals in the
Norwegian quota,"
he
said, adding that seal-hunting will remain strictly
forbidden in the
period
when mother seals are nursing, and that baby seals are
off limits.
The Norwegian chapter of environmental group
Greenpeace meanwhile
insists
that seals have nothing to do with problems in
Norway's fishing
industry,
which it says are caused by fishing quotas that are
too high.
"We still recommend that the idea of tourist hunts for
seals be put on
ice
and that (the government) stop blaming the seals for
its bad fishing
policy," Greenpeace official Truls Gulowsen said in a
statement.
The organization also said it had little patience with
government
claims
that the move will bolster Norway's tourism industry,
insisting that
tourists are more likely to be frightened than
attracted by the
pastime.
"Most tourists who come to Norway want to experience
pure nature and
not
shoot seals," Gulowsen said.
Animal-rights activists already point the finger at
Norway for being
the
only nation to officially allow commercial
whale-harpooning.
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