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Chile declared a permanent ban on whaling in its waters on Monday, as conservation groups feared an International Whaling Commission meeting it is hosting will fail to halt the world's top whaler Japan.

Speaking at a former whale processing plant that Chile closed in 1967, President Michelle Bachelet also sent a bill to Congress proposing a whale sanctuary along Chile's coastline and declared the whale a national monument.

"We have chosen this place, the Quintay whale plant, to highlight the Chile and the world of the past, in which there was no awareness of social and environmental consequences," Bachelet said.

"Chile...wants to give the world a clear sign of its will to protect whales in its waters," she added. "This initiative is a pledge to the world of the future" ...