Norway and Iceland PMs applaud pro-whaling vote

LONGYEARBYEN, Norway, June 20 (Reuters) The Norwegian and Icelandic prime ministers welcomed on Monday a recommendation by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to relax a ban on commercial whaling.

Japan, Norway and Iceland are the world's main whaling nations.

They say stocks have recovered since a 1986 ban.

''This is positive and goes in our favour,'' Icelandic Prime Minister Geir Haarde told yesterday a news conference on the Arctic island of Svalbard after an annual Nordic prime ministers' conference.

''It supports the rightful development of using natural resources,'' he said.

On Sunday IWC members voted 33 to 32 in favour of a Japan-backed statement that the whaling ban is no longer necessary -- the first time in over 20 years a pro-whaling declaration has been passed.

A 75 per cent majority is needed to overturn the moratorium so it is not immediately threatened.

Whalers have killed around 25,000 whales since the 1986 memorandum. Japan and Iceland have used legal loopholes to conduct some whaling while Norway has largely ignored the ban -- whale steaks feature on menus around the country.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg echoed Haarde's comments and said proper quotas needed to be implemented.

''It's correct and right to have a consistent policy on the whaling quotas,'' he said. ''I hope this decision taken by the Whaling Commission will bring less conflict than before.'' But Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson criticised the vote by the IWC in the Caribbean island state of St. Kitts and Nevis.

''We see yesterday's decision as a setback, but not such a setback that it changes policy that already exists,'' he said.

Whalers have argued with environmentalists for decades over the right to hunt whales. Environmentalists dismissed Sunday's vote as a shallow victory for Japan's recruitment drive for more pro-whaling members of the 70-country commission.

REUTERS CH BD0918