NZ eyes lawsuit against whalers

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New Zealand will look seriously at joining Australia in taking court action against Japanese whaling in Antarctic waters after international whaling talks collapsed.

The International Whaling Commission meeting in Agadir, Morocco, went into closed-door discussions after opening on Monday and it emerged yesterday that talks between representatives from member countries had collapsed.

It means whaling countries Japan, Norway and Iceland are likely to keep hunting whales, and that Japan could keep heading to the Antarctic to hunt whales for what it has always claimed is scientific research.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully said yesterday from Morocco that discussions would now take place with officials from Australia and other countries about joining International Court of Justice proceedings to stop Japan whaling in the Antarctic.

Australia has already filed a lawsuit with the court in The Hague.

Mr McCully said the collapse of talks was disappointing but not unexpected and court action had now become a realistic prospect.

"It's more likely this week than it was a week ago, put it that way," he said.

A decision would be made within weeks, although careful consideration was needed before committing, as a court case could take a few years.

He said Japan came to the Agadir meeting to make concessions, "but they didn't take us much past the proposed contentious position of the chair and deputy chair that was released some months ago".

That proposal involved lifting a moratorium on whaling for 10 years but imposing controls on the limited whaling that would then be allowed.

"For us the next big challenge now is to ensure the breakdown of the talks doesn't mean significant increases in whaling in the Southern Ocean and I'll be engaging urgently with the Japanese Government on that matter," Mr McCully said.

Greenpeace New Zealand said it was important like-minded countries continued to work together to find a way to end commercial whaling.

"No Government can walk away from the IWC meeting thinking they've done the right thing, as yet again nothing has happened."

- NZPA