Australia's bid to defeat a Japanese plan to expand whale hunting rests with just one or two votes, Environment Minister Ian Campbell said on Thursday after a whirlwind campaign to lobby nations from Europe to the Pacific. The International Whaling Commission is due to vote on Japan's whale hunt plans at a meeting in South Korea on June 20. Japan wants to increase its annual intake of minke whales to 935 from 440 and expand its hunt to include 10 fin whales a year for the next two years. By 2007-08, Japan wants to be allowed to hunt 40 fin whales and 50 humpback whales. "I think the cold, hard reality is that there are still one or two votes in this ... we won't really know the answer until we get to Korea next week," Campbell told Australian radio, according to Reuters. Australia wants to establish a South Pacific Whale Sanctuary, arguing that populations of some species are dangerously low and sanctuaries are vital to their survival, and a permanent end to commercial whaling. Campbell, who took Australia's plea to Europe and the Solomon Islands and Kiribati in the Pacific in the past two weeks, said he hoped the vision of a whale sanctuary would be embraced as "an incredibly important part of the planet's ecology". --More 1217 Local Time 0917 GMT
