Norway's whaling industry has sparked international protest over the years. This week, the protests came from the whalers' own hunting grounds.
Around 80 tourists had paid to go out on a whale-watching boat from Andenes, in northern Norway. Called "whale safaris" locally, the whale-watching has become an increasingly popular tourist attraction in recent years.
While the tourists were admiring one of the great mammals of the sea, however, a Norwegian whaling boat approached and shot the whale in front of their eyes.
Leontien Dieleman from the Netherlands was among those who was shocked by the slaughter they suddenly and unexpectedly witnessed.
"This really wasn't what we came to see," Dieleman told local newspaper Andøyposten.
As if the shooting wasn't enough, the tourists were also treated to the sight of another whaling boat hauling one of their own dead whales up on deck.
"It was a fantastic sight to see a whale swimming and breeching," Dieleman said. "On the way back to Andenes, though, we saw a dead whale on deck. The blood was running, it wasn’t a pretty sight.
"I know that's part of life, but I don't think we expected to see anything like that."
'Unfortunate'
Geir Maan, skipper on board the whale-watching boat Reine, called the incident "unfortunate." He told Andøyaposten that he was surprised when the whalers went ahead and shot a whale so close to his tourist vessel.
He said he and his crews try to explain Norway's controversial whale hunt to the tourists keen to see whales. He noted that the authorities also have used "a lot of time and energy to get whale hunting accepted in Norway." Shooting a whale in front of tourists was "like throwing oil on a fire that was about to die out."
Maan told the local newspaper that his passengers were "quite upset" by the shooting. He said he'd spoken to several whalers earlier this year, "and they assured me they wouldn’t shoot near us."
Passenger Gertjan Toorenaar said he'd heard of Norway's whale hunt before, "but it was something else to see it with our own eyes. This is a part of the Norwegian culture, but I don't like it at all."
No sympathy
Jan Kristiansen, who represents the whalers, defended the shootings. He claimed the whalers were simply taking advantage of the nice weather, when the hunting is best.
"Many of the whaling boats had been tied up at the dock for several days, waiting for better weather," he said. "When it finally came, we have to make the most of it."
Kristiansen claimed that he and the other whalers "don't have anything against the whale safari boats... but it's important to get across that it's the extreme opponents of whaling that travel out to see whales.
"We can't prevent them from being against the hunt, and they can't prevent us from hunting."
