By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News The
proposal would secure a future for Japanese coastal whaling The
International Whaling Commission (IWC) has published draft
proposals for regulating whaling for the next decade. Japan's
Antarctic whale hunt would fall in stages to less than a quarter
of its current size. But hunting would continue on the
endangered fin whale. The draft is the latest stage in a two-
year process aiming to find compromise between pro- and anti-
whaling camps. It will be debated at the IWC's annual meeting in
June. Some conservation groups have already condemned it.
Commercial whaling was banned globally in 1982, but Iceland,
Japan and Norway continue to hunt under various exemptions,
collectively targeting more than 2,000 whales each year. "If an
agreement is reached, this represents a great step forward in
terms of the conservation of whales and the management of
whaling," said IWC chairman Cristian Maquieira. "For the first
time since the adoption of the commercial whaling