Should the ban on commercial whaling be lifted?

Whale meat Sashimi dish is seen at a restaurant in Minamiboso, Chiba, Japan. Photo / Junko Kimura, Getty Images

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) has opened what has been described as its most important meeting in decades and almost immediately adjourned behind closed doors.

The commission, meeting in Agadir, Morocco, is pondering whether to suspend the porous 25-year ban on commercial hunting in favour of a more enforceable regime of limited whaling.

A proposal before the 88-member IWC aims to get Japan, Norway and Iceland to reduce the number of whales they kill each year in exchange for ending their rogue status.

Debate on this issue is now closed.