Steinar Bastesen (born 26 March 1945) is a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

politician. A fisherman and whaler, Bastesen was first elected to the Norwegian Storting in 1997 as an independent candidate. In 1999, he participated in forming the Coastal Party (''Kystpartiet''). He headed the party from 1999 to March 2005, when internal disparity among the members forced him to give up his leadership. Bastesen kept his seat in the Storting until the 2005 election.Billy Jacobsen
Steinar Bastesen

NRK NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest ...

, retrieved 6 July 2013 Bastesen was born in

Dønna Dønna is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland region. The administrative centre of the island municipality is the village of Solfjellsjøen. Other villages include Bjørn, Dønnes, Hestad, Sandåker, and V ...

to fisherman Ingvart Meyer Bastesen and housewife Karly Edvarda, née Edvardsen. He first participated in whaling in 1953, at the age of 8. He bought his first whaler ship in 1971. He held elected positions in the organization for Norway's fishermen, Norges Fiskarlag and in the sale's organization for fish, Norges Råfisklag. He was leader of an organization for whalers, Norges Småkvalfangerlag, from 1984 to 1996. Bastesen became known for his vigorous advocacy of whaling, and usually appears on television wearing a seal-fur vest. In 1997, Canadian anti-whaling activist

Paul Watson Paul Franklin Watson (born December 2, 1950) is a Canadian-American conservation and environmental activist, who founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an anti-poaching and direct action group focused on marine conservation activism. Th ...

claimed in a

interview that Bastesen had threatened to kill him. Bastesen vehemently denied the allegation, and sued NRK for

defamation of character Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

by letting the interview air. Bastesen won in the

Oslo District Court Oslo District Court ( no, Oslo tingrett) is a district court located in Oslo, Norway. This court is based at the Oslo Courthouse in the city of Oslo. The court serves the entire city of Oslo and the court is subordinate to the Borgarting Court of ...

, but lost in the appeal court in 2002 as the court found that Watson's accusation was of journalistic interest. In 1998, Bastesen said that the whale Keiko, known from the

Free Willy ''Free Willy'' is a 1993 American family drama film, directed by Simon Wincer, produced by Lauren Shuler Donner and Jennie Lew Tugend, written by Keith A. Walker and Corey Blechman from a story by Walker and distributed by Warner Bros. Picture ...

films, should be killed and the meat sent to Africa as foreign aid. This was his response to hearing that millions of dollars were being spent on preparing the whale for returning to the wild. He was involved in local politics, first for the Centre Party and later for the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, before he later became a member of parliament for the

Non-Partisan Deputies The Non-Partisan Deputies ( no, Tverrpolitisk folkevalgte, TVF), was a minor political party in Norway and the predecessor of the Coastal Party of Norway. The party emerged from the relatively small stratum of conservative EU critics during the 19 ...

(1997-2001) and the Coastal Party (2001-2005). Bastesen has an award from the

Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue The Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue (Redningsselskapet in Norwegian, commonly shortened to RS) is the only organization wholly dedicated to assisting people and vessels at sea along the extensive Norwegian coastline. Overview Norwegian Society f ...

for rescuing people on a shipwrecked ship during a severe storm in 1971.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bastesen, Steinar 1945 births Coastal Party politicians Critics of animal rights Members of the Storting Norwegian people in whaling Living people 21st-century Norwegian politicians 20th-century Norwegian politicians People from Dønna