International Whaling Commission Considers 25-Year Moratorium on Commercial Whaling

The 62nd International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting is currently underway in Agadir, Morocco. The major topic this year is whether to end a 25-year moratorium on commercial whaling and adopt 10 years of regulated hunting world wide.

The IWC proposal would allow Japan, Iceland, and Norway-the world's only whale hunting nations who engage in the hunt through loopholes in the moratorium-and indigenous subsistence hunters, to kill a limited number of whales, according to a IWC press release, The Epoch Times informs.

This morning meeting deputy chairman Anthony Liverpool said about one-fifth of the meeting's 88 member states would not be allowed to vote.

The countries include Palau, the Marshall Islands, Ghana and Gambia and are mostly drawn from the pro-whaling bloc which had been expected to back Japan's move.

They have been suspended for reasons including failing to pay their annual fees, ABC News reports.