I.W.C. rejects bid to ban sperm-whale hunt

Press, 26 July 1980, Page 9

I.W.C. rejects bid to ban sperm-whale hunt

NZPA-Reuter Brighton The International Whaling Commission has rejected appeals by conservationists and defeated a proposal to ban the killing of the sperm whale, the last of the great whales still being widely hunted. The vote was 14 in favour of the ban, which was proposed by the Seychelles and seconded by the United States, six against, and four abstentions. A 75 per cent majority was required for approval of the ban, which would have started in 1982. Immediately after the vote, conservationists burned a replica of the Canadian flag outside the hotel in Brighton where the 24nation 1.W.C.. was meeting. Canada was the only nonwhaling country to vote against the ban on sperm

whales. Had she. supported it, the ban would have been approved. Canada had argued that there was insufficient evidence to warrant the ban. The I.W.C.’s scientific committee had, however, recommended that for most oceans a zero quota should be imposed for the giant sperm. The fight for the continued commercial killing of the sperm, whose oil is used for leather-treating and cosmetics, was led by Japan, whose sperm-whale quota this year is 1350. The total quota for this year is 2203 animals. Next year’s quota for the sperm and other whales still hunted are to be set later during the I.W.C. meeting. Conservationists said that if drastic reductions were not soon made in the catch

quotas of the sperm whale, they might, soon become an endangered species, like some of the other great whales t— the blue, the right, and the grey. Those countries voting for the moratorium were: Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, France. Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Oman, Seychelles, Sweden, Switzerland, Britain and the United States. Those opposed were: Chile, Canada, Iceland, Japan, South Korea, and the Soviet Union. Abstaining were: Norway, Peru, South Africa, and Spain. Earlier this week the I.W.C. defeated a proposal by the United States, France and the Netherlands to ban all commercial whaling. Japan and the Soviet Union led the pro-whaling forces.