For those of you who don’t know what hval is, it is whale.  Norway is one of the few countries in the world that still practices whaling.  Prior to the mid 20th century, many nations practised whaling as it was an important source of income and employment.  Norway has supported whaling since the beginning of its existence as a land mass with people.  The indigenous people of Norway, in particular, consider whaling to be a very valuable source of cultural and economic importance.  In general, whaling is practised all along the western coast of Norway between May and August when other fish are not as prevalent.  As many of you might guess, the fact that Norwegians pracitce whaling is quite controversial.  Think ‘Baby Beluga.’ 

Scientific research has told us that the population of whales is diminishing.  Greenpeace dedicates its efforts to halt the practice of whaling worldwide.  The organization singles out Japan and Norway as super-resisters because they are the only 2 countries that continued whaling after the IWC (International Whaling Commission) moratorium established in 1986.  All other countries except for Norway and Japan stopped whaling by 1990.  Ironically, Norway is a member of the IWC, who chose to respect the moratorium until 1990 at which point the IWC was supposed to perform a serious assessment of the effects of the decision on whale stocks and consider modification of the moratorium.  The IWC apparently did not do this.  In 1993 the Norwegian government made an executive decision to resume whaling. 

Norwegians only hunt the Northeast Atlantic minke whale population, which is numbered at approximately 100,000.  Prior to the moratorium Norway caught about 2,000 whales a year.  The quota for 2007 was 1052.  Norway is environmentally conscious in its whale hunting efforts.  However, since most people do not know about all the different species of whale that exist and assume that all whales are in dire extinction, the fact that Norway and Japan are the 2 principal nations that practice whaling today is upsetting to many people.  One thing I will say is that it’s much easier to stay away from whale’s meat than it is beef, pork, and chicken.  We all know quite a few people who do not support the idea of large scale animal farming, but yet still consume the meat. 

I tried whale twice when I was in Norway.  I bought a whale sandwich one time and I bought just straight-up whale when I was at the fish market in Bergen 2 separate times.  Although whale has quite a fishy taste, I liked it.  Very gamey. 

Whaling is something that Norwegians have done for centuries for economic and cultural purposes and I personally believe that as long as the whale population they are hunting is not in jeopardy, it is quite alright for them to continue hunting in a well-regulated manner that promises the quickest and most efficient kill.