China did not agree with the establishment of whale sanctuaries without a valid scientific basis, said Liu Xiaobing, a senior official from the fisheries department of the Ministry of Agriculture.

A representative of China at the 55th annual conference of International Whaling Commission (IWC), Liu said that the IWC failed to offer essential and accurate data about the mammals, which China considered crucial in decisions, such as whether to set up sanctuaries.

China hoped the IWC would provide a better scientific assessment of global whale stocks and come up with relevant management approaches on valid scientific grounds, Liu said.

As a big fishing country, he said, China was committed to the conservation of endangered whale and dolphin species and had actively participated in the IWC decision-making process and activities on whale conservation.

China urged the countries engaged in the whaling industry to comply with international laws and to work under the IWC framework, Liu noted.

The IWC conference concluded on June 19 in Berlin, after it had passed a resolution to form a conservation committee despite strong objections from traditional pro-whaling nations like Norway, Japan and Iceland.

The conference also blocked joint bids from Australia and New Zealand to set up a whale sanctuary in the South Pacific, and from Brazil and Argentina for a sanctuary in the South Atlantic.

China banned commercial whaling in 1979, three years earlier than the IWC adopted the resolution to suspend global commercial whaling.

(Xinhua News Agency July 3, 2003)