N.Z. makes stand against whaling

Press, 16 July 1980, Page 1

N.Z. makes stand against whaling

PA ■ Wellington ... A, three-man delegation led by New Zealand’s Deputy High Commissioner in London (Mr B. J. Lyhch) will represent :the.Government at the International Wha 1 i n g Commission’s thirty-second annual meeting, in Brighton, England, later this month. f ■ The delegation had been instructed to take a “consistently conservation approach” and to support all moves made at the conference to halt the killing.of whales, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Mr Taiboys) yesterday. Mr Lynch will be joined by a second secretary at • the High Commission, Mr

F. Wong, and a member of the Greenpeace Foundation of New Zealand, Mr M. Donoghue. Mr Taiboys said , the inclusion of Mr Donoghue in the Government’s representation was “an acknowledgement of the very real contribution made.by organisations such as Greenpeace, the Friends of the Earth and Project Jonah to environmental .matters generally and ; whaling in particular.” The agenda for the conference, to be held from July 21 to July 26, includes three items under which individual moratorium proposals may be submitted.

“New.. Zealand’s representatives will be instructed to support all moratorium proposals that the annual meeting is requested to, vote on,” Mr Taiboys said. - “I should also like to underline the Government’s interest in three other 'whaling issues, namely: the humane killing of whales, pirate whaling and - protection for small, cetaceans (marine mammals) such as porpoises and dolphins,” he said. “We are particularly concerned that the most humane methods possible are used .in the killing of whales, and consider, that

the rapidity with which a whale is rendered unconscious and killed, and the level of suffering involved are the two most-import-ant factors to think about.” 1 ' The Government saw an urgent need to examine the use of cold harpooning (i.e. the use of unarmed grenades); which though causing less tissue damage in the whale, is said to result in acute suffering, particularly in larger species. The continued flourishing of pirate whaling was also of concern.. The Government believed that I.W.C. member nations

had paid insufficient attention to this question, Mr Taiboys said. . As a result, it had taken steps to ensure that adequate time was available this year for a full discussion of these issues. "Recent events have highlighted the. need to protect small cetaceans equally as much as larger cetaceans like whales; If the I.W.C. decides against the renegotiation of a new convention covering ■all cetaceans, the New Zealand delegation will hope to persuade' other members of the commission to amend the 1946 convention to include all

species of dolphin, porpoise, . dugong and manatee,” Mr Taiboys said. The Japanese Government has . announced it will, tighten up whale meat importing procedures to stop' trade with so-called pirate whalers. Starting . next Monday, the Japanese will require all whale imports to bear certificates showing. their original source. The move is intended to ban direct arid indirect importing from countries which do not belong to the International Whaling Commission.