Whaling nations agree to big cut in 1979 quota

Press, 22 December 1978, Page 5

Whaling nations agree to big cut in 1979 quota

NZPA ” " Tokyo Whaling has been made illegal in a vast area to the south and west of Australia and the 1979 quota on the number of sperm whales caught in the North Pacific has been cut to 59 per cent of 1978 levels at a special session of the International Whaling Commission. The Soviet and Japanese delegations formally agreed not to take whales from the Australian area, although theoretically the fleets of the 1 two remaining big whaling nations could have taken over a small Australian quota. Australia has decided to do away with' its only land-based whaling works.

The 17-member commission, however, did not go so far as to adopt a, United States-backed move to limit the North Pacific sperm whale catch to males only. Conservationists have been asking for protection of female sperm whales in order to allow for a building up of what they say is a depleted sperm-whale population.

The special session of the I. had to be called because no agreement was reached on the zero female quota proposal at the regular conference in London in June. The special session finally hammered out a last-minute compromise at midnight Tokyo time yesterday. The total quota was cut to 3800 head from this year’s 6444 and a formula was adopted allowing whalers to catch 437 females, a figure that amounts to 11.5 per cent of the total quota. A Japanese delegate said after the meeting that the 11. per cent formula was necessary because whalers could make mistakes. The sperm is a toothed whale highly prized for its oil, which is used a a highgrade lubricant. The males grow to more tjian 13 metres, but the females generally remain <below 12 metres. Japan exported about 3600 tonnes of sperm whale oil last vear. Unlike i baleen . whales, . sperm v hales are not used for feed.

Conservationists havei been asking for international i protection of the sperm ! whale. Lew Regenstein, representative of the Washingi ton-based Fund for Animals said after the meeting, “The 3800 head quota is not bad considering that the I.W.C. has consistently given whal- : ing nations higher quotas i than the previous year’s catches.” I A Japanese delegate who i did not wish to be identified : said: “We are not satisfied ’ with the quota cuts.” The Japanese said that the 41 [ per cent decline in the quota ■ would be bad news for ; Japanese fishermen still ; engaged in whaling. Members of the Japanese 1 Seamen’s Union demonstrated outside the Japanese Foreign Ministry building , during the two-day meeting, ! shouting slogans accusing - the delegates of non-whaling ; nations of emotionalism. 1 The Japanese police earlier i arrested a 26-year-old Ameri- ■ i can photographer who i'climbed a Tokyo broad- ■ casting tower and unfurled a ; banner asking the Japanese

I Prime Minister (Mr Masayoshi Ohira) to help protect whales.

Joseph Edward Healy, of Santa Monica, California, was still in police custody yesterday, awaiting transfer to the national police on charges of trespassing. The I.W.C. meeting also agreed to work toward the banning of whale product imports from non-member nations and whaling equipment exports to countries that engage in whaling disregarding I.W.C. quotas. The Canadian representative (Mr Mac Mercer) head of the I.W.C. technical committee said, “Canada and the United States are at the moment the only countries that have laws banning such behaviour, but the agreement means that countries will now have to report on the progress they make toward establishing such laws.”

Conservationist groups have accused Japanese fishing companies of funding socalled pirate whaling operations in Peru, Chile, Cyprus, and Spain.