They needed a two-thirds majority but were in a minority in each vote. Whale hunting opponents expressed satisfaction with Saturday's outcome. The International Whaling Commission imposed a worldwide moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986. Japan and Norway say gray and minke whale numbers have rebounded into healthy and stable populations and that commercial hunting should resume. CNN's Gary Strieker looks at the rejected proposals.
Conservationists contend that both Norway and Japan have skirted the moratorium.
Norway caught almost 600 minke whales in its coastal waters last year and Japan took more than 400 minkes, mostly in Antarctica, under a clause allowing catches for scientific research. Norwegians eat whale meat as steaks or in stews but do not consume the blubber. In Japan the blubber is eaten raw as a delicacy. Japan and Norway say they should be allowed to resume commercial whale hunting, but so far they have been unable to overturn the international ban For the small whaling industries in those two countries, losing the votes was a major defeat. The whaling proposals were voted down in committee.