The International Whaling Commission (IWC), at its annual meeting in London, has rejected Iceland's application to regain full membership and voting rights within the organisation.
Iceland, which has said it wants to operate a "sustainable" whaling operation when stocks have recovered, had applied to resume voting rights with a reservation on complying with the international moratorium on commercial whaling introduced in 1986.
But on the opening day of the IWC's 53rd annual meeting, described by an official close to the Irish delegation as at times "exceptionally tense", 19 member-countries of the IWC voted to reject Iceland's application.
The vote was carried because 16 countries did not participate, and three abstained. A further vote to treat Iceland as an observer and not a member at the conference was passed by 18 votes to 16. Ireland voted against Iceland's membership of the IWC and in favour of its treatment as an observer at the meeting.
After the vote, the commissioner of the Icelandic delegation, Mr Stefan Asmundsson, said the IWC decision was "obviously a huge disappointment" and he insisted Iceland wanted to rejoin the IWC, not destroy the consensus on the moratorium on commercial whaling.
Iceland, Japan and Norway want the IWC to overturn the ban on commercial whaling, and Japan in particular has argued that support to overturn the ban within the IWC is growing.
As Iceland criticised the IWC, the Japanese delegation was busy denying allegations of buying votes to influence IWC members after the head of its food fisheries agency, Mr Masayuki Komatsu, was quoted recently as saying Japan used promises of overseas aid development to win support.
Japan said the comments were taken out of context, and Mr Joji Morishita, deputy director of Japan's fisheries agency, told The Irish Times overseas development aid was sent to many countries which opposed whaling.
Criticising the IWC decision on Iceland, Mr Morishita said it had no legal basis, and he insisted that while overturning the ban on commercial whaling would be difficult he believed support for the ban among IWC members was diminishing.
Other proposals the IWC will consider during its week-long conference include the creation of whale sanctuaries in the south Pacific and south Atlantic oceans and the Revised Management Scheme for sustainable management of whale stocks.
Under the scheme, Ireland is proposing that whaling should be restricted to 200-mile exclusion economic zones around coastlines, that whales caught should only be used for local consumption and all countries should voluntarily limit scientific whaling.