Judges at the highest UN court ordered Japan to halt whaling in the Antarctic, rejecting the country’s long-held argument that the catch was for scientific purposes and not primarily for human consumption.

Japan and other pro-whaling nations will today try to rebound from two early defeats to win a majority at the International Whaling Commission’s annual meeting and pave the way for commercial whale hunting, which was banned 20 years ago.

Countries that oppose the two-decade moratorium on commercial whale hunts fought for the upper hand at an annual whaling meeting in Ulsan, South Korea, pushing a proposal to back limited commercial hunts.