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SV Inflated rubber whale on edge of water
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SV PAN Crowd on quayside standing by whale
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SV Champagne being poured over whale
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SV Rowers in boat towing whale out of marina (3 shots)
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SV PAN FROM sign on building TO demonstrators with banners (MUTE)
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SV INTERIOR Delegates attending conference
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SV Australian Minister for Primary Industry, Ian McCahon Sinclair, speaking at conference
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TRANSCRIPT: SEQ. 7: SINCLAIR: "The Australian government looked to the scientific committee to provide the whaling nations with the best possible management advice. It was on this advice that the Australian government has given its support for the continuation of whaling, limited to particular species, the numbers which may be caught and the areas in which they may be taken. If limited whaling is to continue, then in our view it should only be under a management regime based on global considerations. I'm sure that all members nations of the International Whaling Commission expect to utilise and improve techniques whenever possible. The work of the International Whaling Commission and its scientific committee provide the viable international mechanism which should ensure the conservation of all whale stocks."




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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The 16-nation International Whaling Commission (IWC) moved into closed session on Tuesday (21 June) amid reports of a widening split between delegates over the number and species of whales that should be killed over the next year. Last year's kill quota was set at 28,000 whales by the IWC. But conservation groups say there should be a ban on whaling for the next ten years to avoid the total extinction of certain species.

SYNOPSIS:A group of conservationists recently gathered in the fashionable suburb of Mosman in the Australian city of Sydney to draw attention to what they saw as the plight of the sperm whale. Soviet Union and Japan account for 75 percent of the whales killed last year and both nations are reluctant to see a cut in the present kill quota. Conservationists had hoped other members of the IWC would support their call for a ban when the commission began its meeting on Tuesday (20 June) in Canberra. But those hopes received a setback when Australia's Minister for Primary Industry -- Ian McCahon Sinclair -- addressed the commission.