Fish firm to stop whale processing

Press, 5 September 1983, Page 25

Fish firm to stop whale processing

NZPA-Reuter Oslo

A big Norwegian fish company, which has been a target of protests by environmentalists, says it will stop processing and selling whale meat in 1986.

The managing director of Frionor, Mr Arne Asper, said the decision resulted from drastic cuts in catch quotas of minke whales in the North Atlantic which would make selling the whale meat uneconomic.

The quota reduction, from 1790 whales to 635, was imposed by a meeting of the

International Whaling Commission in Brighton, England, earlier this year. Whale meat exports accounted for only 0.3 per cent of the value of Frionor’s sales and the company, which represents 100 freezing plants along the Norwegian coast, was not involved in catching whales, Mr Asper said. The environmentalists, headed by the Greenpeace organisation, have called for a boycott of Frionor’s fish products on the United States market because of the firm’s whale exports.