Iceland back to whaling

Iceland says it plans to resume whaling after the International Whaling Commission decided to readmit the country as a full member.

Fisheries Minister Arni Mathiesen said they would not begin whaling again before 2006. Iceland walked out of the commission 10 years ago in anger over the worldwide moratorium on whale hunting.

It has made attempts to rejoin but has not been willing to recognise the moratorium. This week's vote was extremely tight - of the commission's 50 members, 19 voted in favour and 18 against.

New Zealand, Britain and the United States opposed Iceland's membership. Greenpeace said the decision "defied all common sense".

Iceland hunted 60 whales a year for scientific purposes from 1986 until 1989, when whaling was banned.

- REUTERS

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