Key players on whaling huddled Tuesday behind closed doors in Florida in an uncertain bid to find common ground on an issue that has bitterly divided Australia and Japan.
Negotiators opened talks in the resort town of St. Pete Beach, near St. Petersburg on Florida's Gulf coast, participants said. The meeting is being held behind closed doors in hopes of easing some of the rancor.
The delegates will review through Thursday a proposal by Cristian Maquieira, chairman of the 88-nation International Whaling Commission (IWC), that aims to work toward a grand compromise bringing aboard all sides on the debate.
His proposal would allow Japan, Norway and Iceland to hunt openly despite a 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling, but put their programs under strict IWC monitoring and aim for sharp reductions in their catch over 10 years.
But Maquieira, a Chilean diplomat, was unable to attend the opening session to press his idea, due to a devastating earthquake in his country that has shut down the main airport in Santiago, participants said.
His draft deal has been met by swift counter-proposals by Japan and Australia. Japan kills hundreds of whales each year in the Antarctic Ocean, enraging animal lovers in Australia and New Zealand.
Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett has said the IWC proposal falls well short of his government's bottom line. Canberra has threatened legal action against Tokyo unless it sets a time frame to end its Antarctic hunts.
In Tokyo on Tuesday, Japan's fisheries minister, Hirotaka Akamatsu, said his side would be "patient" in negotiations but that his goal was the resumption of commercial whaling.
Japan uses a loophole in the 1986 moratorium that allows "lethal research" on whales. But Japan argues that whaling is part of its culture and makes no secret that the meat winds up on dinner plates.
Norway and Iceland defy the IWC moratorium entirely.
The IWC meeting will on Thursday or Friday also review a proposal by Denmark to allow indigenous people in Greenland to kill a limited number of humpback whales.
The proposal has met a mixed reception, although most nations accept in principle the whaling rights of indigenous peoples.
Copyright 2010 AFP American Edition
