“In the history of the IWC, it was the most unjust, unkind and unfair vote that was ever taken,” said US delegate Rolland Schmitten after the motion was defeated for a second time.
“That vote literally denied people the right to feed their families.”
Isolated Arctic communities had been permitted to catch a small number of whales for their subsistence needs ever since the commission – established to conserve whale stocks – first considered the issue about 30 years ago.
Indigenous whaling quotas had been expected to be passed as a formality, but the debate descended into a bitter exchange.