Representatives from 75 countries have gathered in Anchorage, in the American state of Alaska, to debate the future of the world's whales.

The four-day meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) is taking place amid protests by environmental activists over a compromise plan by Japan for a return to commercial whaling. Japan, Norway, and Iceland are among the nations that are allowed to hunt whales on a limited basis.

But despite long standing calls from some to end the 21-year moratorium on commercial whaling, a Japanese-backed move to overturn the ban has not raised enough support. The four-day meeting in Anchorage will consider, among others, a proposed renewal of whaling quotas for indigenous hunters, such as Alaska natives in 10 coastal villages.

The proposed subsistence renewal for Alaskan natives would keep the quota at 260 bowhead whales through 2012, a plan which has US backing.

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