Japan may suspend its contributions to the International Whaling Commission to protest the adoption of a resolution to create a whale conservation committee, a government source said Tuesday.
The IWC passed the proposal by antiwhaling nations in a 25-20 vote Monday at its annual meeting in Berlin.
Approval of the resolution, which calls for "strengthening the conservation agenda" of the IWC, drew only faint applause after a day of often bitter debate. The group has become increasingly polarized since it imposed a global ban on commercial whaling in 1986.