Pro- and anti-whaling nations face off this week in a battle over the 24-year-old ban on the commercial killing of whales.Gathering in Morocco, the 88 countries of the International Whaling Commission will tussle over controversial changes to a moratorium which experts say has saved several whale species driven to near-extinction by more than 150 years of industrial hunting.
The changes aim to coax Japan, Norway and Iceland back into the IWC mainstream.
Australian environment protection minister Peter Garrett says the proposal would sanction the killing of whales in the IWC whale sanctuary in the Southern Ocean and also allow threatened species to be killed.
He says Australia won't be voting for a bad deal for whales and he'll try to convince countries opposed to the proposal to reject it.
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