Government delegations and nongovernmental parties from both pro- and antiwhaling camps are set for a full-scale battle as the International Whaling Commission begins its annual plenary session Monday.
The parties gathering in Shimonoseki, a former whaling town in Yamaguchi Prefecture, are expected to express their opinions in and out of the Kaikyo Messe convention center, the venue for the 54th IWC meeting through next Friday.
But just as in past IWC meetings, the 47 member countries of the whaling body are unlikely to vote for any major changes in the ballot-casting assembly open to the media.