meet most votes, but not the two thirds needed for approval of stricter provisions against hunting of these species. Conservationists worldwide, including experts from the International Fund for Animal Protection and Welfare (IFAW), are concerned about the fact that a negotiated settlement being discussed to address the impasse of the vote, giving Japan permission to conduct some form of commercial whaling - which would mean a lifting of the worldwide moratorium that prohibits the hunting of whales.
During the 2007-2008 hunting season, Japan killed 551 minke whales in Antarctica while Norway's whaling fleet sailed recently with a self-assigned quota of more than 1,000 whales minke. Iceland has also revived its commercial whaling industry, despite the objections of its citizens, and this month violated international conventions, and some say that international law when it allowed the shipment of whale meat to Japan.
During the opening day of the 60 th annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), the government of Chile, through its President Michelle Bachelet, indefinitely extended the moratorium on whaling to all its territorial sea.
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