Agreement near on fishing zone

Press, 12 October 1976, Page 43

Agreement near on fishing zone

PA Auckland The Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) said he would be astonished if the Government made any unilateral declaration of a 200-mile fishing limit around New Zealand before May. Speaking from his home on the eve of his departure for Suva to attend the South Pacific Forum on Sunday, Mr Muldoon said the decision to declare the limit would be made by the Cabinet. However, he thought the Cabinet might prefer to wait until the next Law of the Sea Conference in New York in May.

He said the conference was close to a multilateral agreement on a 200-mile fishing limit and the feeling among Finance Ministers at the annual meeting of the

World Bank and International Monetary' Fund in Manila was that agreement probabl. would be reached at the New York conference. As far as New Zealand was concerned, we could ‘live with” a postponement because our own investigations were not complete The limit would be discussed at the forum. Questioned about possible United States aid to th" South Pacific to combat “the Russian influence,” Mr Muldoon said New Zealand had been saying to America that it should concern itself more with the South Pacific. Mr Muldoon said he would welcome further United States aid in the South Pacific, “I would much rather have them there than some of our other friends.”