(AFP file photo)FLORIANOPOLIS (BRAZIL) - Nations on either side of the whale hunting debate are set for a standoff as the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meets Monday, with Japan hoping to overturn the 32-year-old ban on commercial whale hunting. It also wants to set up a "Sustainable Whaling Committee" which would create catch-quotas for nations wishing to allow their nationals to hunt healthy whale populations for commercial purposes. It would commit the IWC to re-establish commercial whaling quotas from 2020. Iceland and Norway are the only countries that allow commercial whaling and are likely to come under renewed pressure at the IWC meeting, which runs until Friday. "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."

Source: Bangkok Post September 10, 2018 06:48 UTC