Whaling Commission Meeting (Hansard, 14 July 2000)

§ Baroness Hayman

The International Whaling Commission's 52nd annual meeting was held in Adelaide from 3 to 6 July. My honourable friend (the60WA Parliamentary Secretary) attended the meeting, together with officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions and representatives of environmental organisations.

Australia and New Zealand put forward a proposal to create a South Pacific whale sanctuary. This would have complemented the existing Southern Ocean Sanctuary by protecting the breeding areas and migration routes of whales that feed in the southern ocean. It was endorsed by the South Pacific Forum, which represents all the range states affected by the proposed sanctuary. The UK was one of the co-sponsors of the proposal, and my honourable friend spoke strongly in favour of it. But although it was supported by the majority of those voting, it unfortunately did not receive the three-quarters of votes cast necessary for adoption. Both the Australian and New Zealand Governments indicated that they would be submitting the proposal next year; the UK will again be supporting it. The UK took the lead in proposing a resolution condemning Japan's whaling under special permit (so-called "scientific" whaling) and urging Japan not to proceed with its plans for a new programme in the North Pacific; this would involve, among other things, taking for the first time sperm and bryde's, as well as minke, whales. In introducing the resolution, my honourable friend made it clear that the UK Government regarded this as a serious development and one that we would continue to raise both bilaterally and in other fora. The resolution was adopted by a large majority, as was a similar resolution on Japanese whaling under special permit in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary.

A resolution was adopted by consensus establishing a programme of further work on the revised management scheme (RMS) which is being developed to regulate all aspects of any future commercial whaling. This followed a two-day working group on the RMS which immediately preceded the IWC meeting itself. The resolution calls, among other things, for a further meeting of the working group to take place inter-sessionally; a similar meeting was held in 1995. The resolution makes it clear that it does not affect, or in any way commit governments to lift, the moratorium on commercial whaling. In agreeing to form part of the consensus we emphasised that the resolution did not commit us to accepting anything that we had not already agreed to and that it did not preclude the inclusion of other elements in the RMS.

At the meeting the UK's opposition to whaling was reaffirmed. There was only a limited discussion of the Irish proposals for a package of measures on whaling; we made it clear that the UK's position on these remains unchanged. Efforts by Japan to secure a quota of 50 minke whales, despite the moratorium on commercial whaling, was again defeated by a substantial majority. We also strongly criticised Norway's continued whaling activities.

My honourable friend made clear the UK's continuing concern about the cruelty involved in whaling and drew attention, in particular, to the need 61WA to improve the regulation and humaneness of hunts for small cetaceans such as dolphins and porpoises. Earlier in the meeting the UK made use of a video of a dolphin drive hunt in Japan which graphically illustrated the need for such improvements. Although it is primarily for the government of the country concerned to regulate the killing of small cetaceans in its waters, the IWC has a useful role to play in helping to raise awareness of this issue and in improving standards.

A number of other issues were considered. In particular, resolutions were adopted supporting the IWC's research programme on the effects of environmental change and pollution on cetaceans; drawing attention to the need to improve the 62WA protection of North Atlantic right whales, one of the most critically endangered species of whales, from mortalities caused by ship strikes and entanglement in fishing nets; drawing attention to the need for improved measures to conserve freshwater cetaceans (river dolphins); and calling on Canada to reconsider takes of bowhead whales from highly endangered stocks by indigenous peoples.

While the failure to adopt the South Pacific sanctuary was disappointing, in other respects this was a successful meeting for the UK and demonstrated the continuing commitment by the majority of IWC members to upholding the moratorium on commercial whaling. The next IWC meeting will be held in London in July 2001.