[NYTr] Japanese whalers seek to murder 1,000 humpbacks

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

[When you see this shit, you think Hiroshima and Nagasaki didn't kill
enough Japanese. -NY Transfer]


BBC - Nov 18, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/7099720.stm


Japanese whalers hunt humpbacks

A Japanese whaling fleet has set sail aiming to harpoon humpback whales
for the first time in decades.

The fleet is conducting its largest hunt in the South Pacific - it has
instructions to kill up to 1,000 whales, including 50 humpbacks.

The humpback hunt is the first since a mid-1960s global ban and has
drawn strong protests from environmentalists.

Commercial whaling was stopped in 1986 but Japan is permitted whaling
in the name of scientific research.

Four whaling ships, including the lead craft Nisshin Maru, set off from
the southern port of Shimonoseki on Sunday.

The 239-man mission plans to kill more than 900 minke whales as well as
fin whales and humpbacks, in a South Pacific whale hunt that will run
until mid-April.

The 8,000-metric ton Nisshin Maru was crippled by a fire on a whaling
mission in the Antarctic in March. One crew member was killed.

A Greenpeace campaign ship will be following the Japanese fleet.

Sensitive mammals

Tokyo's plan to target the humpback - which was hunted to near
extinction four decades ago - has drawn condemnation from
environmentalists.

"Humpbacks are very sensitive and live in close-knit pods so even one
death can be extremely damaging," Greenpeace spokesman Junichi Sato
said.

Japanese fisheries officials insist both humpback and fin populations
are back to sustainable levels.

"Humpback whales in our research area are rapidly recovering," said
fisheries spokesman Hideki Moronuki.

"Taking 50 humpbacks from a population of tens of thousands will have no
significant impact whatsoever."

Mr Moronuki said killing whales allowed marine biologists to study their
internal organs.

Meat from Japan's scientific catch is sold commercially but Japanese
officials deny that the mission plans to make a profit.

Tokyo argues that whaling is an ancient Japanese tradition, and has
pushed unsuccessfully at the International Whaling Commission to
reverse the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling.

Environmentalists say Japan's research programme is a pretext for
keeping the whaling industry alive.

) BBC MMVII