Japan and other pro-whaling nations have walked out of a meeting of the International Whaling Commission to protest at a proposal for a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic.

Delegates from Japan, Iceland and a number of Caribbean and Africa nations walked out when the issue came up at the IWC’s annual talks in Jersey, throwing the meeting into disarray.

Other delegates and IWC officials were huddling in small groups to decide how to proceed.

It was not immediately clear whether they could vote on the proposal after the walkout.

The proposal would put whales off limits to hunters in the Atlantic south of the equator. It has failed to win approval at previous IWC meetings.