§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what assessment he has made of the likely impact on the populations of each whale species of the Irish proposals presently before the International Whaling Commission; [23542]
(2) what assessment he has made of the likely level of trade in illegal whale meat should the Irish proposals before the International Whaling Commission be accepted. [23402]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 19 January 1998]: It is not possible to assess the impact of the Irish proposals until more detail is available on how they might be implemented. The Government have serious reservations about some aspects of the Irish proposals, in particular the possible authorisation of coastal whaling. As I have made clear, we would consider changes to existing IWC rules only if these contributed positively to whale conservation and led to a significant reduction in the number of whales currently being killed.
§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what reassurances he has(a) sought and (b) received from (i) South Korea, (ii) Indonesia and (iii) Taiwan that they will not resume commercial whaling should the present Irish proposals before the International Whaling Commission be accepted. [23401]
490W
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 19 January 1998]: The Government are opposed to a resumption of commercial whaling, and we have not approached these countries on this issue. Taiwan and Indonesia are not, in any case, members of the International Whaling Commission, and are not legally bound by the IWC's moratorium on commercial whaling.
§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what recent communications he has had with(a) Norway and (b) Japan in respect of the Irish proposals before the International Whaling Commission; and if he will make a statement. [23541]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 19 January 1998]: I have had no recent communications with the Norwegian or Japanese Governments on whaling issues. The proposals put forward by Ireland at the last IWC annual meeting in Monaco are to be discussed further at an intersessional meeting of IWC Commissioners in Antigua from 2 to 5 February. The UK will be attending this meeting. We have already expressed our reservations about these proposals.
§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the likely impact of(a) climate change, (b) ozone depletion, (c) air pollution and (d) industrial fishing on whale populations over the next 10 years. [23400]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 19 January 1998]: The IWC's Scientific Committee has established a Standing Working Group on Environmental Concerns which has identified eight topics of particular importance to its work on effects of environmental change on cetaceans: climate/environmental change; ozone depletion and UV-B radiation; chemical pollution; impact of noise; physical and biological habitat degradation; effects of fisheries; Arctic issues; disease and mortality events. At its latest annual meeting the IWC endorsed the work of the Scientific Committee and the Standing Working Group and asked those bodies to produce detailed scientific proposals for future work on environmental concerns on a multi-annual basis. The UK has played a leading role in encouraging the IWC and the Scientific Committee to examine the effect of environmental factors on cetaceans, and will continue to be actively involved in this work.