International Whaling Commission (Hansard, 28 June 2000)

§ Mr. Morley

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) will be holding its 52nd Annual Meeting in Adelaide between 3 and 6 July. I will be attending.

At this meeting I will be confirming that the UK remains strongly opposed to whaling, and that our ultimate aim is to secure a permanent, worldwide ban on all whaling, other than some limited aboriginal subsistence whaling. We will be seeking to build upon the successful outcome of the recent CITES meeting where all whale downlisting proposals were rejected and the primacy of the IWC reaffirmed.

There will be further discussions of proposals put forward by Ireland in 1997 for a package of measures on whaling. The Irish proposals would involve a ban on all whaling, including scientific whaling, outside coastal waters (in effect creating a global ocean sanctuary), with a possibility that countries might authorise whaling under IWC rules within their own coastal waters; there would be a ban on international trade in whale products. In these discussions we will maintain our previous position on these ideas: while we are prepared to discuss constructively all ideas for improving whale conservation, and strongly support some elements of these proposals, we have significant reservations about others, in particular those relating to coastal whaling. Nevertheless we are prepared to consider interim solutions on the way to our ultimate destination provided that these deliver very real benefits to whale conservation.

It is, however, unlikely that any progress will be made on the Irish proposals, as the whaling countries and their allies remain opposed to key aspects of them. Japan, in particular, has demonstrated that it is not prepared to consider ending scientific whaling or a ban on international trade in whale products. In these circumstances, the United Kingdom will continue to support the alternative ways of achieving our aims that we outlined at least year's meeting and subsequently reported to the House on 9 June 1999, Official Report, columns 348–50W.

A key element of our approach is support for the creation of regional sanctuaries, and we will be strongly supporting a proposal put forward by Australia and New Zealand to create a South Pacific Whale Sanctuary. The proposed sanctuary will afford greater protection to whales in a highly important breeding and feeding area, and one through which many other great whales migrate. The proposal has been endorsed by South Pacific Forum leaders.

At previous IWC meetings the UK, together with a majority of IWC members, has consistently criticised the whaling operations authorised by Japan under special permits—so called "scientific" whaling. It is, therefore, 500W very disappointing that Japan has presented proposals, for discussion in the IWC Scientific Committee, to extend these whaling operations to cover two further species, Sperm and Bryde's whales. Under the IWC's parent convention, IWC approval for these proposals is not needed and it is for Japan to authorise whaling under special permit., We will, nevertheless, be registering the Government's strong objection to these proposals and will be urging Japan to withdraw them.

There will be further discussion of The Revised Management Scheme (RMS), which is being developed to regulate all aspects of any future commercial whaling. The IWC meeting will be preceded by a two day working group focusing, in particular, on the Inspection and Observation Scheme which would form an integral part of the RMS. It is important for the credibility of the IWC for it to be seen to be making progress on the development of the RMS, and the UK will continue to participate constructively in this work. We will be seeking a comprehensive RMS that would ensure that, if commercial whaling was ever authorised in future, it could not pose a threat to whale conservation and that catch limits and other rules would be strictly observed. The Government will also be making it clear that our participation in this work is without prejudice to our opposition in principle to commercial whaling.

As we have at previous meetings, the UK will again be expressing its concern about the cruelty involved in whaling; we also intend to raise the inhumane methods used and lack of regulation in the hunts for small cetaceans, such as dolphins and porpoises, that take place in some countries. Other topics on which we hope to make progress include the impact of environmental change and pollution on whales and other cetaceans and the encouragement of whalewatching.

We will report the outcome of the meeting to Parliament.