Sanctuaries on the Agenda at Whaling Conference

The International Whaling Commission's annual conference opened today with a renewed call from conservationists to step up the protection of whales instead of "managing" how many are killed every year.

The commission's 60th meeting will be held this week in Santiago de Chile. Issues on the table include the future of the IWC, a vote on the creation of a whale sanctuary in the Southern Atlantic and whether a resolution can be agreed opposing the Japanese desire to continue so-called "scientific" whaling.

More than 20 years after a worldwide ban on commercial whaling came into force, many whale populations, even entire species, face possible extinction. Around 30,000 whales have been killed since 1986, and last year almost 2,000 whales were killed by three countries - Japan, Norway and Iceland.

"Since [the ban] member nations have been locked in unproductive debates about the possible resumption of whaling," said Claire Bass, marine mammals program manager at the World Society for the Protection of Animals. "WSPA wants to reframe the debate. Rather than 'how many whales can be killed sustainably, the key question must be, 'as whales cannot be killed humanely at sea, should they be hunted at all?" Greenpeace has called for this year's meeting to further turn the IWC from a body representing the interests of whalers to one that primarily considers the conservation of whales.

A spokesperson for the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), which represents the country at the IWC, said: "The UK strongly supports the worldwide ban on commercial whaling and opposes all forms of whaling, other than some limited subsistence whaling by indigenous people. Whaling is cruel and unnecessary. Whale watching rather than whale killing is a sustainable way to benefit from whales. The UK remains strongly opposed to any attempt to lift or weaken the ban, and in the longer term we want to see it strengthened."

A statement on the website of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that the country "strongly supports the international protection of endangered whale species such as blue whales" and denies that its catch of whales has a big impact on populations. It adds that, since 2002, the country has been allowed to catch, for example, 590 minke whales, which have a population of 761,000 in the Antarctic Ocean.

On scientific whaling, the Japanese statement says: "We limit the sample to the lowest possible number, which will still allow the research to derive meaningful scientific results. The research plan and its results are annually reviewed by the IWC scientific committee."

At the start of the meeting, Chilean president Michelle Bachelet is expected to sign a bill seeking to establish a whale sanctuary in her country's national waters.