Photo by Geir Wing Gabrielsen / Norwegian Polar Institute
A person who illegally shot and killed a bearded seal last month on the sea ice near the shut-down Svea coal mine has been fined 20,000 kroner, according to The Governor of Svalbard.
The culprit did not have a hunting license or permit to hunt seals in Svalbard, according to a statement by the governor. The carcass of the animal was left under the harbor at Kapp Amsterdam.
“The person has been questioned, has acknowledged the circumstances and has accepted the fine,” Lt. Gov. Sølvi Elvedahl said.
Seals can be hunted in Svalbard from Feb. 1 to April 5 and June 5 to Nov. 1. In addition to a hunting license a person must have documentation certifying they have passed a shooting test using the same weapon that will be used during the hunt.
I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation.
Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads.
But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.
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