Whale deal falls at last minute

A unique consensus between environment groups and whaling nations at the World Conservation Congress was derailed by a last-minute Australian intervention. Japan and Norway had agreed to back a motion saying there was not enough data to support the claim that culling whales could raise fisheries yields. But Australia's late bid for stronger wording broke the consensus and left other anti-whaling countries fuming. The "fish eat whales" argument is often cited as a reason to maintain hunting. The conservation groups behind the consensus, the Pew Environment Group and WWF, believed it could help build bridges between Norway, Japan and Iceland and their opponents which could, in the end, lead to a diminution of the whaling industry. "We had an excellent spirit of co-operation and consensus," said Sue Lieberman, head of WWF's... [read full story]