Risking injury to save the whales

Press, 5 July 1977, Page 8

Risking injury to save the whales

By BARRY MAY. NZPAReuter correspondent Washington The annual battle for the whales. pitting hunters j against conservationists, is ion again. ■ While whale hunters ar-! gued kill quotas at the re-;; [cent annual meeting of the) (International Whaling Com-' 1 (mission in Canberra con-! (servationists made plans for J la seaborne attack on the]' I predominantly Soviet and 1 , Japanese fleets that hunt in" the North Pacific. “We will confront the;' Japanese and Soviet whalers 1 by putting our bodies between the harpoons and the 1 fieeing whales.” said Dr Pat- 1 ’ rick Moore, president of the Greenpeace Foundation, oneji of several conservationist!, groups trying to stop the ’ slaughter of the world’s |i largest mammal. The foundation's main i

weapon is a former subma- i rine chaser capable of 26 J knots, faster than any whaling boats. ;i The vessel, Ghana Kia,i meaning “Family of the’! Sea,” operates out of Hono-i lulu. Dr Moore said the ship; would sail on its mission j ! ’this week after more fuel!; (tanks were fitted, enabling! (her to remain at sea for 40 (days instead of 30. i The aim is to harass the I whaling fleets to such an ] extent that it will be un-( (profitable for them to con-’: itinue their hunt. The Japanese and Russian, factory fleets are designated’, as the prime targets because!' they account for roughly 75’, per cent of the world’s an-j. inual kill. Greenpeace has another : ;ship. the Vancouver-based i i (James Bay, credited by Dr I? Moore with ensuring that, I i ■ for the first time since h World War 11. no whales; were killed within 1600 km J

of the Amercian West Coast/ ■last year t He said that Greenpeace t ■ activity in the 1975 season (1 — at one point members:! photographed a Soviet wha-i< ;ler firing harpoons across < (the bows of a Greenpeace 1 iship — had spurred diploImatic action which, in turn, . (had led to Japanese and So- ’ Iviet fleets staying away [.from American West Coast ■waters in 1976. Dr Moore estimated that; 11300 sperm whales, the! ■ great-toothed species made; famous in the novel “Moby; Dick,” had beep saved as a’ [result of the Soviet and [Japanese absence. On shore, the whale; ■ defenders’ coalition, which!: groups Greenpeace with four, other conservationist organ-’ isations, is still busy lobby- [ ling for an international 10-1; (year moratorium on the! 1 (commercial killing of’l ’whales. ' I: United States backing for,, (the moratorium since 19721!

contributed to agreement) among the 15 member coun- ■ tries of the I.W.C. to bani; ■the hunting of certain I [species and reduce the’; ’quotas on the total number! of whales that may be; killed. President Carter, in a; strongly-worded message in; May on the international; campaign to save the whales,) said: ] “In spite of the progress! ■ made in the past five years in ! [the 1.W.C., a major change) (in the International Whaling; I Convention itself is needed! before conservation measures; will be adequate to assure protection.” ; ’ He directed his Commerce ! I Secretary, Mrs Juanita Kreps, ■ with the foreign policy ’ guidance of the Secretary of 1 [State, Mr Cyrus Vance, to (prohibit commercial whaling (within the United States 1 200-mile fishery conservation • . zone. The President also ordered ' I Mrs Kreps to negotiate with

the I.W.C. for stronger in-i ternational conservation regulations, maintain firm! American support for a 10year world-wide moratorium, and report any actions that; reduce the effectiveness of; the commission’s conserva-' tion programme. The major tight in the 1.W.C., which met in Canberra, was over the quota for the sperm whale, threatened with a big decline in its North Pacific populations. Japan uses the meat of the! sperm whale for food. The. Soviet Union uses its oil ini lubricants. Anti - whaling groups! throughout the world have boycotted Japanese and Soviet goods in an attempt to put pressure on the two 1 countries to end the whaling, industry. They have also organised; protest demonstrations, some! of them featuring huge! models of whales trundled; through city streets around! the world. J