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	HIGH NORTH ALLIANCE N-8390 Reine i Lofoten, Norway. Tel.: (+47) 76 09 24 14. E-mail:hna@hna.no
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Conservationists find Norway's whale trade scheme satisfactory
High North News 03.08.2001
Norway's control scheme for international trade in minke whale products has been found to be satisfactory.
The findings are contained in a report published last week by TRAFFIC - the wildlife trade monitoring network of WWF and IUCN. TRAFFIC conducted a study aimed to gain understanding of the trade control measures introduced in Norway, with a special emphasis on the DNA register for minke whales. The DNA register includes the DNA fingerprint from every whale hunted. Any whale product in the market can be DNA-tested and its origin traced in a database. This will help ensure that the products in the marketplace are caught and traded legally. "Such measures would provide an extraordinarily high level of precaution against illegal trade when compared to the safeguards in place for other wildlife trade sectors," says TRAFFIC. TRAFFIC further notes with appreciation the "significant progress" made in the establishment of the DNA trade control scheme by Norway. In its report, TRAFFIC mistakenly concludes that "Legal texts and implementation procedures appear to be lacking in two main aspects". In order to ensure full coverage of the DNA register, TRAFFIC recommends that DNA profiles should also be taken from whales caught incidentally because the ensuing products "may be marketed as all other whaling products". However, this is not the case as sanitary requirements for the processing of whales do not allow the products of any bycatch to enter the market. The second aspect that appears to be lacking, according to TRAFFIC, is legislation for whales taken in international waters. But as TRAFFIC correctly points out in the report, Norway only allows whale catches in waters under its own jurisdiction. "We have made TRAFFIC aware of these facts. We are pleased that TRAFFIC confirms our view that the current control trade scheme for whale products is satisfactory. As TRAFFIC points out, the scheme is unique and far stricter than any existing control scheme for any trade in wildlife products," says Rune Frøvik, secretary of the High North Alliance. The DNA register has been through extensive quality control tests and is now operational. A laboratory in Canada has been commissioned to analyse samples and produce a DNA fingerprint for each individual whale. While a second laboratory in Great Britain has conducted the same DNA analyses for a limited number of whales. The results from the two laboratories have been matched, and they show a failure percent of less than one. TRAFFIC conducted similar studies for the whale meat trade also in Japan and South Korea. Norway lifted its self-imposed ban on whale exports in January this year. The main market will be Japan. Due to the self-imposed export ban, several hundreds of tonnes of whale blubber have been stockpiled awaiting export to Japan. The whale meat has however been consumed within the country. The trade is fully legal, and in accordance with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). For more information:
Traffic (containing the whale trade reports) Trade in whale products approaches (HNWNews, 20 July 2001) Fact sheet: Trade in whale products
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