Chilean Deputies Approve
Law Against Whaling On
Coast
SANTIAGO - Chile's lower
house of parliament
approved a draft bill
Wednesday prohibiting
whale hunting on the
country's coast.
The initiative seeks to
make it illegal to kill,
hunt, capture,
transport, disembark,
commercialize, store or
perform any process of
transformation on an
alive or dead cetacean.
The motion, which
received 57 votes in
favor, also sets fines
and a prison sentence
ranging from three years
and a day to five years
for violators of the
law, which will now be
considered by the
Senate.
The president of the
Natural Resources
Commission, Enrique
Accorsi, hailed the
passing of the
initiative, which had
been sent by President
Michelle Bachelet on
July 23.
"The approval of the
project is a great step
in the conservation and
protection of whales,
and it reflects a
consensus because 99
percent of the
population supports the
creation of laws to
protect and conserve the
whales in Chilean
waters," he said.
Accorsi also expressed
hope that the project
would be approved by the
Senate before the
meeting of the
International Whaling
Commission in London
next month.
The idea is to arrive in
the British capital with
the project already
approved, so that Chile
can be the international
vanguard in the
protection of resources,
he added.
Chile also hosted the
recently concluded
International Whaling
Conference in its
capital Santiago. |
