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Whaling Ban Failing, Should Be Overturned LONDON (AFP) - A 14-year worldwide ban on whale hunting may have to be abandoned in favor of controlled hunting regulations because it has proven impossible to enforce the ban, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) said. The world's whaling watchdog said it was considering allowing controlled whaling rather than losing its credibility, because it was powerless to stop countries flouting the rules. "I think the commission will need to move forward on measures which would allow controlled whaling, otherwise it will lose credibility," IWC secretary Dr Ray Gambell told BBC News Online. "Whaling is going on at a commercial level," Gambell said. "It's outside IWC control. "I would think it much better that it was brought within international regulations and oversight." Japan and Norway have continued whaling despite the international ban. An IWC annual meeting set to take place in Adelaide, Australia, next month, is expected to see a standoff between pro-whaling countries, led by Japan and Norway and anti-whaling countries. Gambell argued that different cultures view whaling very differently, and added that new hunting technologies were reducing the cruelty of the kill. "Some people think whales are such special animals that they shouldn't be hunted at all. But that's very much a question of different cultures," he said. "There have been major advances in recent years in the killing technology. The time to death is very much improved, though there is still room for further improvement. " He added that repealing the ban would not lead to a major expansion in whaling across the world's oceans. "Commercial whaling is going to be a small-scale local activity, largely confined to coastal areas," he told the BBC
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