§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what proposals are being put forward by Her Majesty's Government to the 45th meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Kyoto, Japan from 10 to 14 May; and what are his objectives for the meeting.
§ Mr. CurryThe Government's primary objective is to secure a continuation of the present international moratorium on commercial whaling. We have made it very clear that we cannot even contemplate the lifting of the present moratorium until we are satisfied about the state of stocks; have full agreement on effective measures for their management, including a transparent and rigorous means for enforcement and inspection; and have humane methods of killing whales.
At the IWC meeting, we shall be looking for positive responses to the United Kingdom resolutions, adopted at 434W last year's meeting. on an 11-point action plan for future work on humane killing and on the concerns we highlighted relating to the Faroese pilot whaling drive fishery. We will be pressing for progress on considering the French proposal for an Antarctic whale sanctuary and on pursuing the United Kingdom resolution, adopted last year, on environmental threats to whales in the Antarctic and elsewhere. We shall continue to oppose "scientific" whaling that fails to meet two important pre-conditions: the IWC must be satisfied that the stocks of whales involved are in good condition and that the research is essential in providing information which cannot be obtained by non-lethal means. We aim to pursue improved protection, under IWC auspices, for small cetaceans. And we are producing a paper for discussion at the meeting that seeks IWC support for our proposals to encourage the growth and proper regulation of whale watching as a non-lethal and non-damaging means of exploiting whale resources.