Pro- and anti- whaling nations brace for battle in Brazil

Pro-and anti-whaling nations are set for a showdown when the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meets in Brazil from Monday as Japan leads an assault on a three-decade old moratorium on commercial whale hunting.

Tokyo heads into the biennial meeting as chair of the 88-nation body determined to shake-up what it says is a dysfunctional organisation mired in dispute and unable to make key decisions.

But Japan's package of proposals, entitled "The Way Forward," has left conservationists seething even before delegates have taken their seats at the 67th IWC meeting in the Brazilian surfing resort of Florianapolis.

They say it's a blatant attempt to overturn the 1986 moratorium and restore commercial whaling.

"This meeting is critical," said Patrick Ramage of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

"Member countries must stand together and push progress towards whale protection, not let this commission be pulled back into the bygone era of commercial whaling."
Brazil as host country is instead trying to rally anti-whaling nations behind a
Japan argues that stocks of Minke whales and other species have recovered and proposes setting new catch quotas "for species whose stocks are recognised as healthy by the IWC's scientific committee."