Iceland back on whaling commission

Iceland has rejoined the International Whaling Commission, nine years after quitting the organisation in protest, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

Even as it returned to the IWC, the government reiterated its opposition to the group's 1986 global ban on commercial whaling but said it could best influence the whaling debate from within the IWC, which meets in London next month.

"There are signs within the IWC that support is increasing for sustainable whaling," it said. Ten years after grudgingly ending hunts, Iceland's parliament agreed to resume hunting in 1999 but hunts have yet to restart,mostly due to fears of a boycott of its fish exports.