N.Z. ports ‘closed’ to Soviet sealers

Press, 4 August 1987, Page 8

N.Z. ports ‘closed’ to Soviet sealers

PA Wellington New Zealand ports would be closed to any Soviet ships heading to the Antarctic on any form of sealing expedition, said the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, yesterday. Twice this year, in March and July, the Government had made separate protests to the Soviet Union Embassy, warning that port access would be blocked if sealing activities continued. He was reacting to claims by a spokesman for the Greenpeace environmental lobby group that the Ministry of

Foreign Affairs had known of Soviet sealing activities for some time but kept it secret from conservation groups. Mr Lange said the Ministry last week tried to reach a Greenpeace person who was concerned about the situation, “but she was not available.” While the Soviet Union’s claim that 4000 seals had been taken for scientific purposes was a “tenable argument” and it appeared there had been no commercial exploitation, “4000 seals was a lot to take from the Antarctic environment,” Mr Lange

said at the post-Cabinet press conference. “We do not accept that there is a need for 4000 seals to be killed in the interests of science.”

A spokesman for the Soviet Embassy, Mr Vladimir Ivanov, said the killing of seals had taken place in accordance with the provisions of an international sealing convention.

Mr Lange said New Zealand was not a party to the convention. If a nation did not agree with killing seals, there was little point in signing a convention which allowed it, he said.