Pro-whaling countries are meeting in Tokyo to plot a path towards lifting the moratorium on commercial whaling.
A special meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) called by Japan has been boycotted by nearly half of the membership.
Japan says the International Whaling Commission (IWC) is too concerned with conservation, and wants it to resume its initial job of regulating hunting.
Just 34 of the commission's 72 nations have turned up for the meeting, which Japan hoped would ease the stand-off between pro- and anti-whaling members.
Anti-whaling countries such as Britain and Australia are staying away.
Tokyo wants a moratorium on commercial whaling to be lifted and the IWC to focus instead on whale management.
The three-day meeting convenes against the backdrop of clashes in the Antarctic between Japanese whaling ships and conservation groups.
The meeting comes amid clashes at sea between Japan's whalers and activists.
The world has changed, our perception of the relationship between humans and whales has changed Remi Parmentier Varda Group They are protesting against Japan's whaling programme in the Southern Ocean, which is conducted under IWC rules permitting hunting for scientific purposes.
Japan's IWC commissioner, Minoru Morimoto, opened the meeting by expressing disappointment at the non-attendance of nearly half the whaling body.
A collision between the Kaiko Maru and the Farley Mowat, operated by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, saw the Japanese vessel damage its propeller, with some reports suggesting it may have to return to port.
"One of our goals is to improve the atmosphere of the IWC, which has become one of confrontation, and to improve dialogue," he told delegates.
Unsustainable divisions
"It's a shame most anti-whaling nations chose confrontation," he added.
In recent years, annual meetings of the IWC have become as stormy as the Southern Ocean itself.
Australia, New Zealand, the US and the UK were among the 26 nations that have shunned the three-day conference.
The anti-whaling bloc held a clear majority until last year's meeting in St Kitts, which saw pro-whalers - or "pro-sustainable use countries" as they like to be known - command a majority of one on a vote endorsing the eventual lifting of the 21-year global moratorium on commercial hunting.
Whalers and conservationists have clashed in the Antarctic
Meat from Japan's scientific whaling programme is sold for foodBut actually lifting the moratorium would require a majority of three-quarters, and that is probably unachievable.
The UK said before the meeting opened that the IWC was the "only recognised forum in which to hold these discussions".
Japan has called this week's meeting to "discuss and put forward specific measures to resume the function of the IWC as a resource management organisation."
"We are grateful to Japan for trying to further discussions on issues of division in the IWC," said a spokesman for the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
Japan calls the process of returning the IWC to its original purpose "normalisation". The national Fisheries Agency has indicated it may leave the IWC if it cannot achieve this goal.
"However we believe this initiative may serve to further polarise and distract members from the IWC's important conservation work."
All IWC members were invited to the Tokyo meeting, but many which support the moratorium will not be attending.
High seas drama
"The IWC is the only body mandated to discuss issues relating to the conservation and management of whales, and as such the UK believes it is the only recognised forum in which to hold these discussions," said a spokesman for the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
Some of the countries that have attended, such as Cambodia, do not have a traditional interest in whaling.
"We are grateful to Japan for trying to further discussions on issues of division in the IWC; however we believe this initiative may serve to further polarise and distract members from the IWC's important conservation work."
Japan has been accused by environmentalists of buying the support of poorer nations with aid packages, but this was denied by delegates at the conference.
THE LEGALITIES OF WHALING Objection - A country formally objects to the IWC moratorium, declaring itself exemptScientific - A nation issues unilateral 'scientific permits'; any IWC member can do thisAboriginal - IWC grants permits to indigenous groups for subsistence food Two weeks ago the British government launched a brochure aimed at recruiting anti-whaling countries onto the Commission.
THE LEGALITIES OF WHALING Objection - A country formally objects to the IWC moratorium, declaring itself exemptScientific - A nation issues unilateral 'scientific permits'; any IWC member can do thisAboriginal - IWC grants permits to indigenous groups for subsistence food
Conservation and environment groups would agree that the IWC is hopelessly polarised, but would disagree with Japan's contention that a return to commercial whaling is merited.
"We are not a whale-hunting country, but the matter of resources within our sea is very important to us," Cedric Liburd, fisheries minister of St Christopher-Nevis, told the Associated Press. "No one can buy our vote."
"The ocean has changed, the world has changed, our perception of the relationship between humans and whales has changed," commented Remi Parmentier of the Varda Group, an adviser to the Pew Charitable Trusts.
The IWC banned commercial whaling in 1986.
"We wish that together we could look to the future rather than to the past."
Japan, which says whale meat is part of its culture, has been continuing to hunt whales for what it calls scientific research purposes.
Japanese whaling ships left port in November for the Antarctic seas to hunt 850 minke whales and 10 fin whales.
They have recently been caught up by conservation groups, leading to some fraught confrontations at sea.
A collision between Japan's Kaiko Maru and the Farley Mowat, operated by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, on Monday saw the Japanese vessel damage its propeller, with some reports suggesting it may have to return to port.
