§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will raise at the next meeting of the European Community Council of Fisheries Ministers the continual slaughtering of whales by the whaling fleets of certain maritime nations; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Donald ThompsonThe European Community does not have competence on whaling matters as such, but those members with an interest in whaling are members of the IWC and we consult them in that forum. At the recent 41st annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission, the commission passed resolutions asking Japan, Iceland and Norway to reconsider their scientific research whaling programmes and rejected Japan's request for its small coastal whaling boats to take 320 minke whales off Japan. I welcome those decisions.