Conservationists on Tuesday appealed to countries to urgently address new threats to whales, dolphins and other cetaceans as climate change opens up previously inaccessible areas of the Arctic and industries move in to new areas.

As emotional arguments broke out in the annual International Whaling Commission's (IWC) conference between pro- and anti-whaling nations over the right of small, indigenous groups to hunt a few whales each year, WWF appealed to countries to better regulate fishing and stop the oil and gas industries devastating populations.

"A few thousand whales are killed each year because of whaling but 300,000 whales, dolphins and other cetaceans are killed just in fishing gear. Now the greater threat is from the oil and gas industries. Cetaceans have so far been lucky because the Arctic has been mostly inaccessible but as climate change develops new areas are opening up. These are some of the most important areas left for whales and cetaceans," said Wendy Eliott, head of the WWF delegation to the meeting in Panama.

"It is essential these issues are addressed by the IWC. But whaling governments like Norway, Iceland and Japan refuse to acknowledge the conservation committee of the IWC and do not participate."

Shell plans to begin drilling operations in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas off Alaska as early as this month, and other oil companies are planning new off-shore drilling platforms in the Russian far east near the feeding area of critically endangered western gray whales. There are only an estimated 26 breeding females remaining and the oil-rich zone off Sakhalin Island is the only place where they can teach their calves to feed, said Elliott. "This could mark the beginning of a massive oil exploration effort," she said.

The IWC, which is regularly torn by disputes, grants five-year permits to communities with a strong tradition of subsistence whaling. This year, several Caribbean countries, including St Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as the USA, Russia and Denmark are asking approval from the commission for their annual quota of whales to be renewed. Most whaling opponents do not try to block small-scale aboriginal hunts as they do not threaten larger whale populations. While governments argue that the use of whales and porpoises contribute to national food security, cultural preservation and sustainable livelihoods, some are seen by conservationists as ill-disguised commercial whaling.

On Monday, pro-whaling countries led by Japan shot down a Latin American-led proposal to create a sanctuary for whales in the southern Atlantic Ocean. Argentina, Brazil, South Africa and Uruguay put forward a proposal to declare the southern Atlantic a no-kill zone for whales, a largely symbolic measure as whaling ended there long ago.

Thirty-eight countries voted in favour of the measure and 21 voted against, with two abstentions. Under commission rules, proposals need to enjoy a "consensus" of 75% support for approval.