asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the United Kingdom delegation to the International Whaling Commission (IWC), or any of the scientists on that delegation, support proposals to deal with scientific whaling by having catch limits in line with the revised management procedure agreed by the IWC.

Neither the United Kingdom delegation to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) nor any scientist on that delegation would accept that the procedure cited by the noble Lord would adequately control lethal research whaling. Those Governments which currently authorise scientific whaling have so far refused to recognise that the right to undertake such whaling (as provided for in Article VIII of the IWC's parent treaty) should be restricted in any way by the introduction of the revised management scheme for the regulation of whaling. Lack of agreement on this front is one of the more significant obstacles to the progress of negotiations on the revised management scheme.