Vote upholds international whaling ban

The International Whaling Commission today voted to uphold an almost two-decade-old ban on commercial whaling, dealing a setback to Japan and its allies who favour a resumption.

Commission members voted 29-23 against the proposal at their meeting in Ulsan, South Korea, which needed a 75% majority to pass. There were five abstentions, including countries that have often voted with Japan on other issues at the commission.

The 66-member commission, which regulates global whaling, banned commercial hunts in 1986, handing environmentalists a major victory in protecting the species near extinction after centuries of whaling.

Japan and other pro-whaling nations in the group knew they had virtually no chance of garnering the votes needed to overturn the moratorium at this year’s annual meeting.

But they had hoped to obtain a simple majority to back Japan’s proposal for a non-binding measure expressing support for limited commercial catches.

That would have demonstrated that opinion among commission members has turned in favour of sanctioning commercial whale hunts.