Whale-hunting ban gathers strength

Press, 21 July 1980, Page 4

Whale-hunting ban gathers strength

. NZPA-Reuter Washington The United States would seek a ban on all commercial whaling when the International Whaling Commission meets today at Brighton, England, said the chief United States delegate to the conference yesterday. The United States made a similar effort at last year’s conference. The conference approved a ban on factory ship operations and hunting of all species except Minke : whales. Mr Richard . Frank, administrator of the National Oceanic and ..Atmospheric Administration, said that the United States, would also seek stronger action to protect killer whales. He said the Soviet Union ignored a recommendation that it limit its catch of killer whales to 24 last year, and caught more than 900. “The United States wants the I.W.C. to take steps to ensure that this previously unexploited and small stock •does not become subject to ; over-harvest as . a result of (conservation measures that (restrict the harvest' of larger species,” Mr Frank said. I Conservationist pressures ; to call a halt : to whale-kill-! ling increased with the-belief! I that Brazil has decided toj (ban whalers, Close factories and, halt ..'. .trade in whale products from January 1 next year. • “There has been considerable - lobby’ r pressure'- ■ at ( home- fromv the-^Brazilian-1 Japanese company engaged?

in the whaling trade, to continue whaling, but : conservationist reasons have prevailed,” said an official from the Brazilian Embassy in London. The Brazilians, who first said they were phasing out whale-catching at. the International Whaling Commission’s annual meeting in London last year, will again emphasise their, intent when the I.W.C. plenary meets to set the 1981 catch-quotas. However, it" is not yet known whether. Brazil, which abstained from the vote .last, year,, will,, in fact, this year cast its vote for the conservationist cause. Both Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth officials have said, that the, 1.W.C., for the 'first .time -in, its

existence, is meeting outside London for its annual catchquota decision. “They want to avoid as much publicity as possible and they have even chosen the week when the Olympic Games open in Moscow,” a conservation official said. Brazil in 1978, according to the latest figures available, exported 319 tonnes of whalemeat to Japan out of total imports of 33,835 tonnes. Although Brazil’s whaling operations have been reduced, its decision to abandon whaling ". will add., more weight to’ conservationists in South America.

Already Argentina has ceased whaling, but Chile and Peru are very active- in the South Pacific. ■