Sealing venture in doubt

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32959, 4 July 1972, Page 6

Sealing venture in doubt

Romen's news

fN.Z.P.t Staff Correspondent / WASHINGTON. July 3. The clubbing to death of young seals by commercial hunters seeking furs for fashion-con-scious women is not expected to spread to the Antarctic in the immediate future.

Officials of the United States Antarctic Research Programme said that Norwegian sealers interested in, commercial hunting in the Antarctic had apparently been dismayed by proposed limitations on the annual kill. The hunters thought that the limit of 192.000 would prove too low to permit economical sealing ventures to be established in the region. The limitation was agreed at a meeting of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research in London earlier this year. Since then all but four of the 12 countries who are signatories to the Antarctic: Treaty have signed the limit-, ing convention. The four out I of step are Japan, Australia,! Chile and France. i Officials said they expected : these four nations would sign ! or observe the convention but 'added that it did not come into force until at least seven of the 12 had formally ratified the document. As a result they doubted the convention would take effect before October. CHANGE OF MIND Mr J. E. Heg, of the Office of Polar Programmes at the National Science Foundation, said it had become apparent during the London meeting that Norway was contemplating an early start to commercial seal hunting in the region. “But since then I have heard that they are having a second look at the question because the quotas seem so low. They doubt that it will be possible to. begin a profitable operation.” ; Mr Heg said that if the Norwegians did not go ahead immediately, he thought it ! would be at leasf two years before a commercial hunting j venture got under way. Mr Heg said he had no (knowledge of any Japanese ! plans to begin seal hunting there. But some other officials of the United States Antarctica Programme believed it likely that Japanese fishermen would turn their attention to the commercial prosIpects of such an operation. | LIMITS IMPOSED The convention imposes a hunting season lasting from (September 1 to the last day lof February. It sets killing limits of 175,000 for crabeater seals, 12,000 for leopard seals and 5000 for Weddell seals. It forbids the slaughter of Ross, Southern Elephant and “fur” seals, as well as the killing of any Weddell seals aged above one year between September 1 and January 31. The reason for the latter restriction is a desire to protect breeding stock. Nations accepting the convention agree to provide each year details of the numbers of seals killed during the season by their ships.