The Norwegian government's decision to resume the minke whale harvest has been approved by the three largest, Norwegian-based environmental organisations, Norges Natrurvernforbund, Bellona and Nature and Youth. These organisations base their attitude to minke whaling on purely ecological criteria.

"As conservationists we do not protest against hunting and whaling as long as one harvests from Nature's surplus... when representatives of the animal welfare movement remove certain species from their context and make them sacred, they are on collision course with conservationism," says Dag Hareide, general secretary of the Norwegian conservationist organisation, Norges Naturvernforbund.

Bellona is a Norwegian equivalent of Greenpeace as far as methods are concerned, but not regarding ideology. They campaigned against Norwegian oil drilling in the Barents Sea in the summer of 1993 under the motto:"Minke whaling, Yes - oil drilling, No". The press were served whaleburgers on board their campaign ship. Bellona's view is that minke whaling is an example of the ecologically justifiable use of natural resources, offshore oil drilling is an ecological game of chance.

"In the course of a few short years a non-renewable resource is exhausted, at the same time fish and marine mammal stocks are put in jeopardy. Given sound management procedures, these are renewable resources that can be harvested year after year," says Bellona spokesman, Rune Haaland.

"Characteristic of Norwegian environmental organisations is their aim to "protect man in Nature"," says Heidi Sørensen, leader of Nature and Youth. She asks:" Is everything that calls itself "international" and "environmentalist" really beneficial to Nature and the environment?" In her view, the campaigns against whaling "have forgotten ecology and the interaction between man and nature", and the Norwegian minke whale harvest "is necessary for the environmental debate".