Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) -- The International Whaling Commission is in danger of collapsing because it has ceased to function as a forum for resolving disputes, Japan’s top delegate said.

“The IWC is so polarized, there’s no actual dialogue anymore,” Joji Morishita, a counselor for Japan’s Fisheries Agency, said in a press conference in Tokyo today. “There is still a high possibility of the collapse of the process.”

Japan kills hundreds of whales every year in the name of scientific research, skirting an IWC ban on commercial hunting, before selling the meat to restaurants and stores. Countries including Australia and the U.S. oppose the practice, claiming it is illegal whaling in disguise.

The IWC was founded in 1946 for the purpose of finding a balance between managing whaling as a resource and conserving endangered species, said Morishita, Japan’s highest-ranking representative to the body. The commission held a working-group meeting in the U.K. in December without reaching a consensus on how to reconcile differences.

“Japan wants to remain in the IWC,” he said. “Countries that only argue for conservation should leave” the organization.

While Japan has made compromises such as suspending the hunting of Antarctic humpback whales until an agreement is reached in the IWC, the country “can’t negotiate on the basic position of Japan’s government” that whales are a sustainable marine resource, Morishita said.

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith in November said his government will increase diplomatic efforts to halt Japan’s annual whale hunt. Australia on Nov. 17 announced a research program aimed at convincing Japan that it isn’t necessary to kill whales to study them.

To contact the reporter on this story: Toko Sekiguchi in Tokyo at Tsekiguchi3@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 20, 2009 02:48 EST