The International Whaling Commission on Tuesday rejected a hotly debated proposal by Australia and New Zealand to establish a whale sanctuary in the South Pacific after the plan failed to get the support of 75 percent of voting members.
The proposal was put to vote at a plenary session on the second day of the four-day IWC meeting. Japan and Norway obtained support from nine other IWC member states, mostly Caribbean, enabling them to block the proposal with 11 votes against the sanctuary.
Eighteen member states voted for the sanctuary, four abstained, and two were absent during the vote.
Those that rejected the proposal were Japan, Norway, Antigua and Barbuda, Denmark, Dominica, Grenada, Guinea, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and China.