He referred to the abundance and growth of whale stocks. When our home market's demand for whale meat
has been met, it is time to consider exporting it, said Siegstad, while stressing that quotas must be set at a
sustainable level.
The whalers of Greenland have quotas of minke whales and fin whales. The quotas were given pursuant to the
International Whaling Commission’s provisions for aboriginal subsistence hunting . These provisions imply that
the meat must not be sold on a commercial basis, thereby excluding the possibility of exports.
The Whaling Commission has, however, looked through its fingers at the fact that some of the whale meat in
Greenland is sold via ordinary domestic distribution channels and can be bought at, amongst other places, the
supermarkets in Nuuk. Greenland makes no attempt at hiding this fact. According to the KNAPK, Greenland
should have an indisputable right to engage in the commercial utilisation of the nation’s most important
resources. Today, the quotas are allocated on the basis of a combination of biological considerations and
considerations towards the national demand for whale meat. The estimated demand has not yet been fully met.
Siegstad said that the time was right for working towards securing Greenland a humpback whale quota.
Historically, this was the most important species to the whaling communities of
Greenland, but was severely decimated by whaling expeditions from Europe (the
Netherlands, Germany, England and Denmark) during the 1800’s.