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)
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