Under the resolution, countries will be obligated to request permission from the IWC for research whaling. This means that Japan, which has been accused of exploiting research whaling for commercial purposes, will also have to request a special permission.

The meeting however turned down a proposal by Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and South African Republic to establish a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic, a press release by the Slovenian Agriculture and Environment Ministry said. This bid had been turned down several times before.

35 IWC member states supported the resolution on "scientific" whaling, 20 were against and five abstained, according to foreign press agencies. The head of German delegation, Walter Dübner, told German press agency dpa that the resolution was an important step in curbing research whaling.

The Slovenian ministry meanwhile also said in a press release that it was very happy with the conference that drew 450 participants to Portorož this week.

The participants moreover expressed satisfaction and praised Slovenia as a good location for the meeting, because its neutrality as regards whaling was very beneficial for the debate, the ministry said.