Japan’s Fisheries Agency seeks to allow commercial catching of fin whales, stirring conservation concerns

Japan's Fisheries Agency on Thursday proposed a plan to allow catching fin whales in addition to three smaller whale species currently permitted under the country's commercial whaling around its coasts.

The proposal comes five years after Japan resumed commercial whaling within its exclusive economic zone after withdrawing from the International Whaling Commission in July 2019. It ended 30 years of what Japan called "research whaling" that had been criticized by conservationists as a cover...