The Norwegian whaling season is scheduled to wrap up on August 31. In practice however the country's whalers stored away their harpoons several weeks ago after culling only 543 animals out of a quota of 670, according to the organization.

"The quotas were filled in three of the coastal zones, but not in a fourth zone out at sea, surrounding the small island of Jan Mayen" near Greenland, Rune Froevik of the pro-whaling lobby High North Alliance told AFP.

"The organization that runs the sale (of whale products) said that we weren't allowed to go there, that it was enough with the whales caught along the coast," he added.

These numbers are being revealed only shortly after Norway, which is the only country in the world to permit commercial whaling, said it envisioned raising its quotas further.

"We wish to increase the quota of catches to levels that remain sustainable," Jorhill Andreassen, political advisor at the Norwegian fisheries ministry, said in May following a vote by Norwegian members of parliament for a rapid intensification of the country's whaling.

The number of permitted catches could increase to 745 next year, a number the government claimed at the time would be acceptable in the light of projections by the International Whaling Commission's scientific committee.

The same commission placed a moratorium on all whaling in 1986.

Norway expressed reservations to the ban, but nevertheless suspended its whaling activities for seven years, before resuming the practice in 1993, amidst a wave of international protests.

TERRA.WIRE