THE NORWEGIAN embassy in Washington is being flooded with letters protesting Oslo's decision to resume commercial whaling in June and scientific whaling in April (See Down To Earth, July 31, 1992).

Norwegian minister of fisheries Jan Henry Olsen has warned if the ban on whaling continues, his country would be forced to reconsider its membership to the International Whaling Commission. Olsen indicated commercial whaling quotas would be fixed after the IWC meeting in Japan in May.

Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, who want a ban on whaling within their 200-mile exclusive economic zone, are expected to forge a common stand at the IWC meet. Japan, meanwhile is contemplating ways to justify its own defiance of the ban.