The declaration could lead to an eventual overturn of the 1986 moratorium on whale hunting for any purpose other than scientific research. In order to overturn the ban, pro-whaling countries would need 75 percent of the IWC to vote. Japan, Denmark and some African and Caribbean countries that lobbied for lifting the ban argued that the increased whale populations had been depleting fish stocks since the ban took effect.
The pro-whaling countries said at the meetings that the resolution to declare the whaling ban invalid was needed to force the IWC to return to its original function of regulating whale hunts rather than completely banning them.
Protectionists called the pro-whaling vote "a huge disaster." Niki Entrup, of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, said, "This tragic moment signifies a great step backwards in time to when the International Whaling Commission was nothing more than a whalers' club."
Glenn Inwood, a spokesman for the Japanese pro-whaling delegation, said it was "only a matter of time" before the ban on whaling for commercial purposes was overturned.
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