Defying an international trade ban, Norway said this week that it would permit whale blubber and meat to be exported from the country. Norway resumed whaling in 1993, despite an international moratorium on the practice, but until now it has refused to allow exports. Currently, some 600 tons of whale blubber and other whale parts are on ice, awaiting export from Norwegian warehouses. Norway and the countries it will be marketing to — Japan, Iceland, and Peru — have never ratified the export ban. The World Wildlife Fund said Norway’s decision would damage the country’s reputation as an environmentally friendly nation and could provoke the collapse of international efforts to protect whales.
