Airlines refuse to carry Norway's whale exports
Greenpeace secures international blockade of blubber trade as Oslo prepares to resume hunting endangered species in defiance of ban
Paul Brown, environment correspondent Tuesday July 10, 2001 The Guardian
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Some 21 airlines, including British Airways, have pledged not to transport blubber or meat from whales as Greenpeace attempts to stop Norway breaking a 15-year ban on exports.
Norway hunts whales for the meat, but has hundreds of freezers full of blubber that local people will not eat, and hopes to sell the blubber to Japan and clear space for killing more whales in the North Sea and off Norway.
All British airlines flying out of Oslo, the country's main airport, have joined the air blockade, although the Norwegian and some other Scandanavian airlines have refused.
The ban comes a fortnight before the International Whaling Commission meets in London, where Britain and the United States are expected to condemn Norway's plan. The convention allows whaling if a country consumes all the whale products and does not attempt to export, as in Norway's case, the blubber or fat.
Pressure to resume export whaling is increasing, with a number of small pro-whaling nations joining the commission following large aid receipts from Japan to build up fisheries. In Japan whale meat is a luxury.
The Norwegian government announced in January it would allow the export of minke whale products. This trade would be despite minke whales being listed in the convention on the international trade in endangered species, and hence their export being banned.
Greenpeace hopes the air blockade will make exporting difficult and focus world attention. It is writing to other airlines to try to widen the ban. Richard Page, a Greenpeace campaigner, said he was shocked by the extent to which Norway was prepared to go.
"History shows us that commercial whaling always leads to the devastation of whale populations. The resumption of an international trade in whale meat and blubber will only encourage pirate whaling and spell disaster for both abundant and endangered species of whales alike."
Today a report by WWF underlines Greenpeace's concerns. It says seven out of 13 species that have been protected from hunting for 15 years, and some far longer, remain endangered.
Collisions with ships, entanglement in fishing gear, intensive oil and gas development in feeding grounds, toxic pollution, and climate change, all threaten them, the report says.
Industrial chemicals and pesticides accumulate in blubber and are passed in milk to feed offspring, potentially poisoning them.
WWF is encouraging whale watching as a means of keeping species alive.
The following airlines have assured Greenpeace they will not carry whale products: Air Malta, Crossair Hauptsitz (Switzerland), Czech Airlines, British Airways, Deutsche Lufthansa (Germany), KLM (Dutch), Austrian Airlines, LOT (Poland), Swissair, Tyrolean Airways (Austrian), Air 2000 (Britain), Air Europa Lineas Aereas SA (Balearic islands), Britannia, Spanair, Sterling European (Denmark), Finnair, Iran Air, Air France, Sabena (Belgium), Maleu (Hungry), Onur Air (Turkey).