Ulsan, South Korea – Countries opposed to the resumption of commercial whaling claimed victory Tuesday after the international body that regulates whale hunts upheld a moratorium they call essential to protecting the mammals.
The annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission maintained the almost two- decade-old ban on killing whales for profit, dealing a blow to Japan and its allies pressing for a resumption of commercial culls.
Commission members voted 29-23 against the Japanese proposal for regulated sustainable whaling, which needed a three- fourths majority to pass. There were five abstentions, including the Pacific Island nation of Kiribati, which voted with Japan on other issues at the annual meeting.
“The whales won,” said Patrick Ramage of the U.S.- based International Fund for Animal Welfare. “The Japanese proposal was firmly defeated by a significant number of members.”
The commission banned commercial hunts in 1986, handing environmentalists a major victory in protecting species that were near extinction after centuries of whaling.
Norway holds the world’s only commercial whaling season in defiance of the ban. Commission rules allow members to reject decisions they oppose. Japan hunts whales for what it calls scientific research. Those countries and others are expected to kill more than 1,550 whales this year.
Japan and other pro-whaling nations knew they had virtually no chance of overturning the moratorium at this year’s gathering, which runs through Friday.
