11.   Japan insists that many whale species have increased so much that the sheer volume of food they need has become a threat to fish populations.

12.   Japan, which kills several hundred whales each year under a controversial research program, has argued that many whale species are plentiful enough to allow limited kills.

13.   Last year, IWC scientists acknowledged that the Norwegian hunt for minke whales is sustainable, while most other whale species are still considered close to extinction.

14.   Limited catches would differ for each whale species and catch quotas would be based, season to season, on the size of whale populations.

15.   Not all experts agree with that line of reasoning, but many acknowledge that some whale species are plentiful enough to absorb limited kills.

16.   Several whale species often strand themselves on the Australian coastline.

17.   The Japanese government contends it gains valuable data on ocean resources through its whale catch and denies the activity endangers any whale species.

18.   The Inuit also get some mineral rights and broad hunting rights, extending even to hunting some whale species that wildlife-protection groups believe should be off-limits.

19.   The whale species was not identified in the reports, and the cause of their behavior was unclear.

20.   Those arguments remain disputed, but many experts do acknowledge that some whale species are plentiful enough to absorb limited kills.