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Opting for more time would “raise the question of the commission’s credibility,” said Remi Parmentier, senior policy adviser to the Pew Environment Group, which has been one of the organisations backing the exploration of compromise.

But there may also be a reluctance to leave the more constructive tone of the previous two years behind, and risk a return to the acrimony that formerly characterised the IWC.

However, other anti-whaling groups were pleased that their governments did not accept the draft agreement, as in their view it would have legitimised the whaling programmes of Iceland, Japan and Norway.

“Had this deal lived, it would have lived in infamy,” said Patrick Ramage, head of the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s (IFAW) whales programme.

“There may be a cooling-off period in the IWC, but meanwhile the whalers will be in hot pursuit of their prey.”

Opting for more time would “raise the question of the commission’s credibility,” said Remi Parmentier, senior policy adviser to the Pew Environment Group, which has been one of the organisations backing the exploration of compromise.

But there may also be a reluctance to leave the more constructive tone of the previous two years behind, and risk a return to the acrimony that formerly characterised the IWC.

However, other anti-whaling groups were pleased that their governments did not accept the draft agreement, as in their view it would have legitimised the whaling programmes of Iceland, Japan and Norway.

“Had this deal lived, it would have lived in infamy,” said Patrick Ramage, head of the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s (IFAW) whales programme.

“There may be a cooling-off period in the IWC, but meanwhile the whalers will be in hot pursuit of their prey.”