Ocean Sentry
Japan was set to launch another whaling mission Wednesday, aiming to catch up to 60 minke whales off its northeastern coast for what it calls research, the government said.
Japan hunts whales using a loophole in a 1986 international moratorium on commercial whaling that allows “lethal research” on the mammals, and makes no secret of the fact that the animals’ meat is then served as food.
Four whaling ships and one designated research vessel will set sail from Ayukawa port in northern Miyagi prefecture and hunt whales within 80 kilometres (50 miles) off the coast until late May, the official said.
The Japanese Fisheries Agency said the environmentalist group the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society made it impossible for the whaling vessels to operate on 16 days of the 100-day whale hunt.
The six ships caught 679 minke and one fin whale on the mission, the agency said.
That was well below its planned haul of between 765 and 935 of the giant mammals.
Japan will launch the new whaling mission ahead of the International Whaling Commission’s annual general meeting in June in Madeira, Portugal.
(From google.com, AFP)
