Japanese ships net 439 Minke whales

Ulhas Joglekar ulhasj at bom4.vsnl.net.in
Mon Apr 10 06:46:49 PDT 2000


Friday 7 April 2000

Japanese ships net 439 Minke whales TOKYO: Two Japanese ships returned home on Thursday after catching 439 Minke whales in the Antarctic on a hunt that began last year, officials said. The haul was just one short of 440, the maximum number allowed for Japanese scientific whaling under an International Whaling Commission agreement, said Fisheries Agency official Michitoshi Nabeshima. The Nisshin Maru, carrying the haul, and a ship that counted the number of whales in the Antarctic arrived in Kushiro, 890 kilometers (552 miles), northwest of Tokyo, Thursday morning. Three other boats arrived in two separate ports in southwestern Japan on Tuesday. Last year, Japan caught 389 minke whales in the Antarctic. Japan has annually conducted what it calls research whaling since 1987, one year after the IWC banned commercial whaling, although environmentalists are critical of any whaling in the Antarctic. Under the program, the five Japanese ships set sail in November last year. Nabeshima said data on the death rates and living habits collected in the research will be submitted to an IWC meeting in Adelaide, Australia, in June. Meat from the whales will be sold in Japan this summer, with proceeds going to the whaling industry. Environmentalists say such sales encourage illegal whaling.(AP) For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service
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