Whaling quotas centre of debate 

The fate of the 21 year long world ban on commercial whaling is set to be decided this week by the International Whaling Commission, at a meeting in Alaska.

Japan has been trying to overturn the worldwide moratorium. It currently kills around 1,000 whales each year under a scientific programme, with the whale meat sold as food.

Japan argues the IWC should be managing whaling, not banning it.

New Zealand fears Japan will try to slip commercial whaling through the back door.

Quotas that allow isolated tribes in Alaska and Greenland to hunt using traditional methods are up for renewal. New Zealand supports the quotas, however Japan has said it will veto them, unless the IWC allows wider coastal whaling.

Conservation Minister Chris Carter says Japan has the numbers to stymie the quota renewal and that could cause all sorts of problems.

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