The International Whaling Commission has proposed allowing whales to be hunted under strict quotas.

The move would bring the world a step closer to the first legal commercial whaling in nearly 25 years.

The proposal, released late Thursday, would allow Japan, Norway and Iceland - which hunt whales under a variety of exceptions to a 1986 moratorium - to catch whales for 10 years but under strict limits set by the IWC that would reduce the overall catch.

Japan's self-imposed annual quota of 935 Antarctic minke whales, which are not endangered, would be lowered to 400 over the next five years, then reduced to 200 for the next five years.

The country's current take of 320 sei and minke whales in waters near Japan would be cut to 210.