International NGO WWF is extremely disappointed at the breakdown in negotiations among governments at the 62nd annual International Whaling Commission(IWC).

"A compromise solution which brings illegal whaling under the control of the IWC was clearly needed, and governments at this meeting failed to find a way forward. Once again, they have put politics before science." Said Wendy Elliott, WWF International Species Manager.

The 88 governments attending the meeting considered a new proposal put forward by the Chair that would have allowed commercial whaling in the Southern Ocean for the first time in almost 25 years and would have set commercial whaling quotas for whales listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as endangered.

But delegates said today they had reached an ‘impasse’ on the proposal, so it is highly unlikely that a decision on the future of the IWC will be made this week.

"This brings into question the integrity of the Commission and its ability to make meaningful decisions that benefit whale conservation."

"WWF has always fully supported the maintenance of the 1982 moratorium on whaling at the IWC."

"The huge amount of political will and good relations that have been developed through this process must not be set aside at this critical juncture for whales."

"The IWC can only move forward by focusing on saving whales, not on politics." Wendy Elliott added.

More than 33,000 whales have been killed since the ban on commercial whaling was put in place.