Letter from Greenpeace to Norwegians

I guess this is a rather unusual letter to receive from a complete stranger but I hope that you will take the time to read it. Most of all I hope that it will not upset or anger you. It was written with the best intentions and I hope that it will be received that way.

This letter is about whaling and the Norwegian whale hunt in particular. Many people around the world want to stop the whaling but I am worried that you may not recognise the real reasons why we are so strongly against it. I believe that most Norwegians have a slightly different view of whales than we do in Germany. I can understand that some of our reasons for wanting to save whales appear a little odd to you. But what you may not recognise is that there are strong anti-whaling arguments which have nothing to do with animal rights. Arguments which I believe are seldom heard in Norway.

Commercial whaling is against international treaties. I believe that all countries should stand by international treaties. There was fully justified anger when France and China and, later, India and Pakistan defied the international treaty against nuclear tests. Yet every year Norwegians go against the ruling of the international body set up to protect whales.

I find it strange that the Norwegian government tries to justify the fact that they defy international treaties. They say - and I understand that they are technically right - that having "made reservations" against parts of the agreements, Norway is formally not bound to stand by them. But Norway is clearly violating the spirit of this international agreement.

This is the reason why the delegates to the International Whaling Commission vote year after year against the resumption of commercial whaling by Norway and ask Norway to stop it. There is also the danger that a resumption of commercial whaling around the world will lead to a free-for-all unregulated hunt similar to that which brought so many whale species to the edge of extinction in the first place.

No one is arguing that it would be impossible to control the hunt in a country like Norway. But it is frightening to imagine the free-for-all which could occur in the ex-Soviet Union or the Far East.

Norwegian whaling is so wasteful. Most of us react against EU wine lakes and butter mountains but Norway is busy producing a blubber mountain of its very own. Every year too much whale blubber is caught and the excess is stored frozen for years. Official figures claim that there are over half a million kilogramms piled up. The whalers themselves say that some blubber is over ten years old. Why do they keep storing it? Who would ever eat it?

I know that some Norwegians believe that only Norway has a tradition of whaling. But whaling has been a traditional way of life in coastal areas of many countries around the world. Britain, USA, Denmark, Russia, all had long whaling traditions. Here in Germany we also had a long tradition.

However, when it became clear to us that whale stocks could not survive, we had to give up our traditions. Not without real social and economic cost locally. Is there any special reason why Norwegian traditions should deserve special status?

There is more money to be made in whale watching than in whale hunting anyway. Whale tourism is on the increase. Income from whale watching around the world was a staggering 4 billion Kroner last year. Over the past five years this figure has grown by 16% every year. However, the benefits are bypassing Norway because of the continued whale hunt. Most potential tourists, including me, feel that whale watching and whale hunting are incompatible. Therefore, Norway is missing out on a valuable source of income.

Of course I can understand that there are cultural differences between us. I can imagine that some of my attitudes to whales might seem irrational and over-emotional to you. But certain arguments transcend the cultural differences. I believe that most Norwegians and most Germans would agree that it is wrong to defy international agreements, and that threatening endangered species is wrong. I think most people would agree that building up stores of food that no one will ever eat is also wrong. And all this is especially wrong as there is a way out that would help the local people even more.

Thank you for reading this letter. I hope it has not made you angry. As I said this certainly was not its intention. I hope you will write back to me to explain how you feel. I am sure that there is much that I can learn about the whale hunt and how Norwegians feel about it.

Thank you again for taking the time to read this letter.

Yours sincerely

(Unterschrift/Signature)

A little about this letter and how I got your name. I am an ordinary Greenpeace member. There are 530,000 of us in Germany. (Unfortunately there are less than 600 in Norway.) I hope that lots of ordinary Greenpeace supporters around the world will write to ordinary Norwegians to explain how they feel in a more personal, human way than can be done by advertisements or TV debates. Your name was chosen at random from the Norwegian telephone directory so you can understand that you were not picked out especially.

The text for this letter was supplied to me by Greenpeace in English because I personally did not feel confident writing my own English. I have seen a German translation of the text and agree with everything said in it. Thank you.

The original letter

Letter from High North Alliance

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