1.   Both countries claimed the proposals would not endanger whale populations.

2.   In part, these acknowledged the continuing difficulty in establishing whale populations.

3.   Despite the smaller-than-usual winter whale population, at least eight whale calves have been spotted so far this season off Georgia and North Florida.

4.   The helicopter also will be used to make aerial surveys of seal and whale populations around the floating mountain of ice.

5.   The Japanese assertion that rising whale populations endanger global fish stocks is also bitterly controversial.

6.   This will allow them to compare these whales with other whale populations around the world, he said.

7.   Thought to feed on the krill, little shrimp-like creatures that line the islands, the whale population has exploded in the past five years.

8.   According to Japan, the limited catches it is seeking would be different for each whale species, with catch quotas based on the estimated size of whale populations.

9.   Advocates of the hunting ban say it is necessary to protect international whale populations, depleted from decades of widespread hunting, against possible extinction.