By Aasa Christine Stoltz

OSLO, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Norwegian whalers caught just over half their quota of 1,052 minke whales in 2007, a small rise from last year, but hunters and their opponents dispute whether regulations or dwindling demand cut back the catch.

Norway and Iceland are the only nations to allow "commercial" whale hunts despite a two-decade moratorium on whaling by the International Whaling Commission. Japan catches hundreds of minke whales but says it is for scientific purposes.

"A total of 592 whales have been caught in 2007," Harald Dahl of Norway's fishing association said. That is an increase of 47 whales from last year, when 545 whales were harpooned.

Rune Sroevik, a spokesman for the High North Alliance, which represents whalers' interests, said this year's catch had been limited by government rules imposed after the season started.

"If this had not happened, I would estimate that about 200 more whales could have been caught," Sroevik said, adding that weather had been good for this year's hunt, which ended on Friday.

Area quotas were imposed on whalers after 165 of the marine mammals were caught at the start of the season. The regulations are in line with recommendations made in the early 1990s by the 77-member International Whaling Commission (IWC), the Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs said.

Norwegian media reported on Friday that a whaling ship in the Lofoten isles of northern Norway had sunk, and that police did not rule out sabotage. Instructions in Norwegian on "How to sink a whale ship" can easily be found online.

DECLINING DEMAND

Environmental group Greenpeace, which condemns whaling, said declining demand explained why fewer whales had been caught than the quota set by the Norwegian government allowed.

"Whalers have been stopped by economic interest because there is no market for whale meat in Norway or elsewhere. Even if they could catch more ... they chose not to," said Truls Gulowsen, manager of Greenpeace Norway.

Though its whalers landed only half their quota for the second season in a row, Norway says minke whales are plentiful in the North Atlantic, unlike blue whales, which were hunted to the brink of extinction before the IWC's 1986 moratorium.

"If we are to reach the target ... we have to make sure we do not catch more than the quota in areas where availability has been quite good ... to leave some for next year," said Halvard Peter Johnasen, department director at the ministry.

Norway, which resumed commercial hunting of minke whales in 1993 despite the moratorium, angered many nations by raising its quota in 2006 to over 1,000, the highest in two decades.

The area restrictions mean extra travel time for whalers to get to waters further off the coast. Hunters did not catch a single whale of a quota of 152 around the North Atlantic island of Jan Mayen, halfway to Greenland.

Sroevik said that despite the regulations, 2007 had still proved to be a better season than 2006 for the whalers.

"Prices have increased, more volume has been caught. Weather conditions have been good compared to 2006," he said.

"Last year, the weather played the whalers a trick. This year the weather and the market have played on their team, but political regulations have not," he said.

Dahl said the average whale meat price per kilo rose to 31.86 Norwegian crowns ($5.48) from 30.11 crowns in 2006 and was likely to end up above 32 crowns.

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