Fractured whaling body could collapse - delegates

TOKYO, Feb 14 (Reuters) The International Whaling Commission may be headed for collapse unless it manages to overcome distrust and confrontation, delegates to a special meeting of the organisation said today.

Japan and like-minded nations gathered in Tokyo this week in the hope the meeting would build momentum to resume commercial whale hunts, shifting the IWC's focus to management from moratorium.

Japanese officials have termed the three-day meeting a final attempt to save the commission by drafting proposals to submit at its annual gathering in May. Thirty-five of the IWC's 72 members are taking part.

But some 26 anti-whaling nations -- including Australia, New Zealand and the United States -- have boycotted the Japanese meeting, making prospects for dialogue within the polarised organisation slim.

''Definitely it's not going in a good direction,'' Joji Morishita, Japan's alternate commissioner to the group, told Reuters. ''Denial of dialogue is not good. You can say that the IWC has to change itself -- or it could collapse.'' Others said pro-whaling nations still want to try for change but added patience was wearing thin.

''Something has to happen drastically so both parties can have a win-win situation,'' Amalie Jessen, a delegate from Greenland, told Reuters. ''That means both conservation and sustainable use.'' The IWC instituted a commercial whaling ban in 1986. But the group is now bitterly divided between countries that assert all whales need protection and others, like Japan, that say some species are now abundant enough for limited hunting.

Delegates to the Tokyo meeting criticised anti-whaling nations for refusing to attend, saying that they had chosen confrontation over compromise.

''The process for promotion of dialogue is not dead, but the attempt cannot continue forever,'' Morishita said during a panel discussion. ''At some point we will have to make a decision.'' Japan, which says whaling is a cherished cultural tradition, began scientific research whaling in 1987.

The meat, which under commission rules must be sold for consumption, ends up in supermarkets and restaurants but appetite for what is now a delicacy is fading.

Some experts say Japan fears that limits on whaling will lead to limits on all Japanese fishing, a crucial food source in a nation with limited agricultural land. Others argue the whaling campaign is a form of nationalist diplomacy.

REUTERS MS PM1152