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ANCHORAGE (AFP) - Officials from 75 nations on Monday begin talks critical to whale conservation amid pressure -- notably from Japan -- to lift a 20-year ban on commercial hunting of the gentle giants.

As the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) prepares to open in Alaska's capital, the United States is reportedly under increasing pressure to compromise with Japan, which together with Norway and Iceland want to end the moratorium.

The United States is waging an uphill battle to win a mandatory three-fourths majority to maintain bowhead whale hunting quotas for its native Alaskan communities and may need Japan's influence in the IWC.

Japan meanwhile is campaigning for its traditional coastal communities to catch an unspecified number of Minke whales under the same IWC rules allowing the Inupia and Yup'ik peoples of Alaska to hunt the giant creatures.