The warning has come from the President of the Barbados Environmental Society, Keith Laurie, who says the move, which was taken at the just-concluded meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in St Kitts, will negatively affect the image of the region as an eco-friendly area.

The host country's Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Cedric Libert, had described the motion as a victory for the Caribbean and said he was pleased that after working on the declaration since March with Caribbean members of the IWC, the hard work had paid off.

And while the vote does not mean an immediate end to the 20-year moratorium on commercial whaling, it was a declaration putting on record that the majority of the commission's members want the ban to end at some future date.

Laurie says it's the worst thing that could possibly have happened at the meeting. "The impact on the whales in the Caribbean is going to be minimal, but the impact on potential tourism could be devastating," he said.

"We are trying to portray the Caribbean as eco-friendly and we're very much into conservation. I am sure the Minister of Tourism in Barbados is very unhappy that we are going to be labelled as a place in favour of killing whales."

Laurie also criticised St Kitts and Nevis for proposing and voting for the motion: "I think that this is disgusting and I'm ashamed that St Kitts has come out in this way."