§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what are the scientific purposes which have been accepted by the IWC as reasons for the hunting of whales. [21655]
§ Mr. MorleyUnder the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (the IWC' s parent convention) a contracting party may issue special permits allowing its nationals to kill whales for purposes of scientific research. The IWC has no power to regulate the issue of special permits. However, in a resolution adopted in 1995, the IWC recommended that scientific research involving the killing of cetaceans should be permitted only in exceptional circumstances where the questions address critically important issues which cannot be answered by the analysis of existing data and/or use of non-lethal research techniques. At its meeting in Monaco in October this year, the IWC adopted a further resolution affirming that in its view current Japanese special permit whaling does not address critically important research needs. This criticism was supported by the UK.
§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what response the Government have made to the recent statement by the Irish Government with regard to the lifting of the world-wide moratorium on commercial whaling. [21630]
§ Mr. MorleyI refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Stourbridge (Ms Shipley) on 28 October 1997,Official Report, column 789.