TOKYO, May 23 (Xinhuanet) -- The International Whaling Commission (IWC) on Thursday rejected an application for special whaling permits for indigenous people in Alaska and Siberia.

¡¡¡¡At IWC's 54th annual meeting in Shimonoseki of Japan, the 45 eligible voters of the 48-member body voted down by 30-14, with one abstention, a U.S. and Russian proposal to renew the five-year,280 catch limits on the so-called "aboriginal subsistence take" of Arctic bowhead whales.

¡¡¡¡But several members suggested the IWC will continue discussionson the issue to pave the way for all indigenous peoples to be granted the right to their food source.

¡¡¡¡Existing catch limits for aboriginal whaling operations -- on Arctic bowhead whales, northeastern Pacific gray whales, minke whales off Greenland, west Greenland fin whales, and north Atlantic humpback whales off St. Vincent and the Grenadines -- areto expire this year. Enditem

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