The non-binding resolution was proposed by New Zealand and sponsored by other anti-whaling nations led by the United States, Britain, Australia, France and South Africa at the annual talks in Anchorage, Alaska.

Russia and Norway voted against it while China abstained.

"It was a clear division showing the different philosophical camps that are here in the IWC," New Zealand's Conservation Minister Chris Carter told AFP.

"It will be bad enough if Japan was just harpooning whales along its own shores but actually it comes down and harpoons our whales," he charged.

Japan shot back, calling the move a "hate" resolution.

"We had a spirit of compromise at this meeting and the anti-whalers just can't help themselves but to pass hate resolutions," said Japanese delegation spokesman Glenn Inwood.

For the first time in IWC history, more than two dozen countries refused to participate in the vote, saying it was divisive and served no purpose, officials said.

It underscored the increasing division within the 75-member IWC, which has nearly an equal number of pro- and anti-whaling nations, making it difficult for key policy changes in the commission that require a three-fourths majority.

"It was the wrong resolution, at the wrong time and delivered in the wrong tone. It has further undermined the relevance of the IWC," said Eugene Lapointe, president of the International Wildlife Management Consortium World Conservation Trust, a pro-sustainable use group.

The IWC, which manages whaling and is in charge of conservation of the creatures, had imposed a moratorium on commercial whaling since 1986 but Japan, according to environmentalists, is exploiting a legal loophole allowing whaling for scientific research.

Japan kills about 1,000 whales a year under its scientific program then sells the meat.

The Latin American bloc, that included Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico, also voted against Japan on Wednesday.

"We are really pleased that all Latin American countries supported us, it shows that the south hemisphere countries are passionate about protecting whales," Carter said.

Japanese whaling fleets head for the Southern Ocean every summer.

"I just think that the Japanese have been very selfish and going against the views of the people of the southern hemisphere," Carter said.

Japan last year won a non-binding resolution in favor of commercial whaling, but fell short of the numbers needed to overturn the two-decade moratorium.

This year, the anti-whaling group has a narrow majority.

Also on Wednesday, Japan made a formal bid at the IWC to overturn the moratorium even though it is expected to fail and worsen a split in the group.

Top Japanese delegate Joji Morishita argued that the moratorium had to be lifted to allow Japan's traditional coastal communities to conduct whale hunts.

He said they had the same fundamental right to pursue whaling as natives in the United States and Russia, submitting the proposal under the same IWC rules allowing aboriginal subsistence whaling quotas.

The whaling culture in Japan dates back centuries ago, he said.

The United States, Britain, India, France, Australia and Brazil were against the Japanese proposal, to be decided on Thursday, the final day of the four-day talks.

During the debate, British Biodiversity Minister Barry Gardiner was cautioned after using what was termed "derogatory" language.

He branded Japan a "perpetrator," implying that Tokyo's scientific whaling was unlawful although IWC rules allow such an activity.

Gardiner said based on the tone of Morishita's remarks, "delegates might be forgiven for thinking that Japan is the victim here."

He then said, "It is not. It is a perpetrator."

The delegate from Norway, a Japan ally and a fiercely pro-whaling nation together with Iceland, cautioned that the word "perpetrator" could be a "derogatory" term.

IWC chairman William Hogarth, noting the sensitivities involved among the diverse group of countries at the talks, pleaded for restraint in comments.

IWC meetings have always been characterized by strong language and emotional arguments.

earlier related report
Greenland wins whale hunting quota
Anchorage (AFP) Alaska, May 31 - The International Whaling Commission (IWC) on Thursday approved by a razor thin majority Greenland's request for an expanded whale hunting quota for natives amid protests by environmental groups.

"This quota should be strongly questioned by anyone interested in whale conservation and welfare," said Philippa Brakes of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS).

Denmark initially sought to add 10 humpback whales and two bowhead whales to the quota for its territory Greenland, as well as increasing its hunt from 175 to 200 minke whales and from 10 to 19 fin whales per year.

But following strong opposition by anti-whaling nations, Denmark revised the proposal to drop the humpback whales and called for a vote on the other species at the polarized IWC's annual meeting.

The proposal was adopted on the final day of the four-day meeting in Anchorage, Alaska with 41 voting for and 11 against with 16 abstentions.

It won by a mere two votes as the quota renewal requires a mandatory three quarter majority.

The 75-nation commission manages whaling and is in charge of conservation of the creatures.

Even though it imposed a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986, it has a policy of allowing so called subsistence hunts for natives in four nations to satisfy longstanding cultural and subsistence needs.

When the vote ended, environment groups highlighted Greenland's alleged poor record of regulating its hunting of marine mammals, failure to report vital data to the IWC and inability to ensure that hunts only met local subsistence needs.

But Greenland argued that it required a greater tonnage of whale meat -- up to 730 tonnes a year -- to support a growing population.

It did not provide "convincing justification" for the increase, Brakes said amid reports that a good deal of the whale meat hunted was sold by hunters to a state owned company that sells it across Greenland.

The WDCS group said it was particularly unhappy at Britain's support for the proposal, considering its "strong and precautionary position on the need to protect whales from unsustainable and poorly regulated hunting."

The United States, which won whale hunt quota renewals for its Alaskan natives earlier in the week, and the Netherlands also voted in favour of Greenland's new quota.

Countries such as Monaco, Germany, France, Australia and New Zealand voted firmly against it. Latin American countries such as Brazil, Argentina and Costa Rica abstained from the vote.

"Greenland's proposal only passed by two votes so we find it particularly disappointing that countries such as Britain and the Netherlands had such a weak position on this," charged Leah Garces of the World Society for the Protection of Animals.

Aside from the United States, the IWC had also unanimously approved whale hunting quota extensions for the natives in the two other countries with the subsistence allowance, Russia and the Caribbean archipelago nation of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

earlier related report
Whaling commission meeting faces another row on final day
Anchorage (AFP) May 31 - The polarized International Whaling Commission wraps up another stormy annual meeting Thursday as it considers Japan's bid to lift a ban to allow coastal communities to hunt whales.

Japan's proposal, which is expected to fail and deepen the split in the 75-nation group, had already sparked heated debate between pro- and anti-whaling nations on Wednesday.

Japan has been campaigning to lift the whaling moratorium ever since it was imposed in 1986. This year, it is arguing that its traditional coastal communities have the same fundamental right to pursue whaling as natives in the United States and Russia.

Japan submitted the proposal under the same IWC rules allowing aboriginal subsistence whaling quotas, saying whaling culture dates back centuries ago in the richest Asian nation.

"Our proposal is substantially different from previous ones in many sense," said Japan's top official at the commission, Joji Morishita.

He said Japan was prepared to negotiate the number of whales to be caught by its coastal community and open the activity to "100 percent" scrutiny and also consider reducing its "scientific research" whale hunting forays.

Despite what Japan calls the strongest case ever put forward to lift the moratorium, there is little prospect of success as it needs a three-fourth majority in the IWC to overturn the ban, officials and experts said.

The IWC, which manages whaling and is in charge of conservation of the creatures, has imposed the moratorium on commercial whaling since 1986.

Environmentalists argue that Japan is exploiting a legal loophole allowing whaling for scientific research.

Japan kills about 1,000 whales a year under its scientific program then sells the meat.

As with previous IWC meeting, this year's event has been marked by strong language and emotional arguments.

During Wednesday's debate on the proposal, Britain's biodiversity minister Barry Gardiner branded Japan a "perpetrator," implying that Tokyo's scientific whaling was unlawful although IWC rules allow such an activity.

That prompted a a rebuke from pro-whaling nation Norway.

The United States, which on Tuesday won a renewal of its five-year quota for whale hunts by its Alaskan natives, said it "cannot support the commercial nature of the hunt" proposed by the Japanese.

The level of whale catches along the Japanese coast currently were already unsustainable, said top US delegate Doug Demaster.

Japan last year won a non-binding resolution in favor of commercial whaling, but fell short of the numbers needed to overturn the two-decade moratorium.

This year, the anti-whaling group has a narrow majority.

In another sign of the commission's deepening rift, Japan and 26 other nations boycotted a vote Wednesday on a non-binding resolution urging Japan to suspend "lethal aspects" of its scientific whaling program.

The measure, proposed by New Zealand and sponsored by other anti-whaling nations led by the United States, Britain, Australia, France and South Africa, passed 40-2.

Russia and Norway voted against it while China abstained.

"It was a clear division showing the different philosophical camps that are here in the IWC," New Zealand's conservation minister Chris Carter told AFP.

"It will be bad enough if Japan was just harpooning whales along its own shores but actually it comes down and harpoons our whales," he charged.

Japan shot back, calling the move a "hate" resolution.

"We had a spirit of compromise at this meeting and the anti-whalers just can't help themselves but to pass hate resolutions," said Japanese delegation spokesman Glenn Inwood.

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