By ADAM RANEY
FRIGATE BAY, St. Kitts Jun 18, 2006 (AP)— A slim majority of nations on the International Whaling Commission voted Sunday in support of a resumption of commercial whaling, but pro-whaling nations still lack the numbers needed to overturn a 20-year-old ban.
The resolution, approved 33-32 with one abstention, declares that the moratorium on commercial whaling was meant to be temporary and is no longer needed.
But to reverse the ban imposed in 1986, another vote supported by 75 percent of the 70 IWC members would be required.
The IWC meeting on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts erupted in shouting and finger-pointing after the vote on the resolution authored by six Caribbean nations and backed by the major pro-whaling nations Norway, Iceland, Japan and Russia.
The Japanese applauded which was met by head-shaking from whaling opponents. The winners shouted "sore losers" at opponents when they tried to continue debating the resolution after the vote. The Irish delegate looked despaired, holding his head in his hands.
Representatives of anti-whaling countries were booed and shouted down after they yelled into the microphone that they did not recognize Iceland as an IWC member because it had previously dropped out. Delegates from both sides traded barbs, talking over each other to try to get their reactions heard for the record.
Still it was not immediately clear what impact the vote would have....
