Japan has decided to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission in a bid to resume commercial whaling for the first time in 30 years, government sources said Thursday.

However, Japanese whalers are unlikely to catch the mammals in the Antarctic Ocean even after it quits the IWC as the government is considering allowing commercial whalers to operate only in seas near Japan and in its exclusive economic zone, the sources added.

The decision, which will be announced by the end of this year, comes as pro- and anti-whaling members of the IWC have been stuck in decades of confrontation.