Crucial vote on whaling today

Press, 12 July 1979, Page 6

Crucial vote on whaling today

, .NZPA-Reuter London I .[ The International Whaling] ■ Commission will today vote ion a resolution to ban whale ]’hunting in the Indian Ocean ‘ for 10 years. ■j Conservationists, who ; jhave flocked to London for] 'the .week-long meeting ofi ' the commission, which regu--11 late whale kills, have hailed the proposed resolution as a | I big victory in the fight to | save the huge mammals. The resolution proposed j 1 by’ the Seychelles was approved by the commission’s’ technical committee by a! I vote of 14-4 after a long, i session. I A plenary session of the 123-member organisation will II vote on the resolution today. ; Conservationists yesterday i said they thought it had a i 59-50 chance of being ap- ; proved. i A three-quarters majority i is needed to carry the moi tion.

ii The I.W.C. technical com- : mittee was expected to ap--11 prove a second resolution calling for a moratorium on iiall whale hunting. ■ If that resolution is ap--1 proved, it will also have to ’ be voted on by the plenary session before coming into force. Conservationists and whaling nations agree that any ' proposal for a world-wide , ban on whale hunting has little chance of being adopted. I The International Whaling J Commission meets annually to set quotas for each whaling nation and also decides which species may be hunted and where Conservationists have used the meetings to focus • world attention on the dwindling whale herds and to press the commission towards banning, or curbing, the whale kills.