The international whaling meeting that opens Monday is the most important in 15 years, and its outcome is as hard to predict as it is significant, according to the head of the U.S. delegation.

The International Whaling Commission plenary session is being held in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture.

"It is still a little early to get a take on the major issues. But this is absolutely the most important meeting since the moratorium (decided on in 1982 and in place since 1986)," U.S. IWC Commissioner Rolland Schmitten told The Japan Times on Friday.