Australia and New Zealand have proposed that the International Whaling Commission designate a wide area of water between Australia and Chile as a whale sanctuary, Japanese Fisheries Agency sources said Sunday.

The plan to expand the sanctuary from the Antarctic Ocean into waters north of 40 degrees south latitude and up to the equator will be discussed at the IWC's 52nd annual meeting to be held July 3-6 in Adelaide, southern Australia.

Britain and the United States are likely to support the two countries when the plan is submitted, the sources said.