Whaling Countries Sabotage International Meeting

["greenbase" <greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org>]

WHALING COUNTRIES SABOTAGE INTERNATIONAL MEETING

Amsterdam, 5 February 1998 -- At a special meeting of the
International Whaling Commission (IWC) which ended in Antigua
and Barbuda today, Japan and Norway again rejected attempts to
bring their ever-increasing whaling under international control.

Japan and Norway failed to change their hard-line stand -- even
on a proposal which would have allowed them to carry out coastal
whaling, an aspect of a new initiative which many conservation
groups find fundamentally unacceptable.    

The compromise proposal, suggested by the Irish government,
would have allowed Japan and Norway to carry out limited coastal
whaling for local consumption. In exchange, the new plan would
close the legal loopholes which have allowed Japan and Norway to
increase the numbers of whales they kill each year. 

Greenpeace understands that Japan and Norway refused to move on
the proposal because they want to carry out large-scale whaling
and trade whalemeat internationally, two areas which would have
been ruled out under the Irish initiative.

"This meeting simply confirms that Japan and Norway are not
interested in what the rest of the world thinks," said
Greenpeace whale campaigner John Frizell who attended the
meeting in Antigua. "How long is the IWC going to wait for them
to halt their whaling activities? A global whale sanctuary is
now the only answer."

Norway and Japan conduct commercial whaling despite the IWC's
worldwide moratorium. They recently increased their self-
assigned quotas and defy attempts by the IWC and the
international community to control their whaling.

Norway resumed commercial whaling in 1993. Japan conducts
`scientific' whaling  and sells the meat on the commercial
market. 

ends

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