Japanese Whalers to DOUBLE their kill!!!!

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Japanese Whalers Aim to Double Usual Kill By HANS GREIMEL,

Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 11 minutes ago

 

 

 

A fleet of Japanese whaling ships left for the seas of Antarctica

amid protests Tuesday, aiming to kill 850 minke whales — almost

double last year's catch — and expand the hunt to fin whales for the

first time.

 

The expedition is the first under a six-year research whaling

program launched earlier this year by the Tokyo-based Institute of

Cetacean Research, fisheries ministry official Kenji Masuda said.

Japan wrapped up an 18-year study of feeding and migratory habits in

March, when the fleet returned from an Antarctic hunt with a haul of

440 minke.

 

Their meat was sold to restaurants and food wholesalers.

 

Greenpeace International called on Japan to cancel the latest hunt,

calling it commercial whaling in disguise.

 

The hunt, which is permitted as research under the rules of the

International Whaling Commission, is expected to kill 850 minke

whales and 10 fin whales, a rarer species.

 

" In the last survey, we found the number of fin whales has been

increasing, so we included them this time, " Masuda said, adding that

the fleet plans to expand the hunt again in 2007 to humpback whales.

The current research program runs through 2011.

 

Japan's research whaling program has for years been a divisive issue

within the International Whaling Commission, which banned commercial

whaling in 1986 but approved limited hunts for research purposes a

year later.

 

Japan maintains that whaling is a national tradition and a vital

part of its food culture. It says whale stocks have sufficiently

recovered since 1986 to allow the resumption of limited hunts of

certain species. Research hunts, which end up killing the whales,

are needed to establish reliable information on whale populations

and habits, the government maintains.

 

Opponents say non-lethal means could be used and that the hunts

differ little from commercial whaling because Japan sells the whale

meat to restaurants. Last spring's catch yielded 4.16 million pounds

of meat and fetched $26.5 million, Masuda said.

 

The proceeds fund further research, the government says.

 

New Zealand Conservation Minister Chris Carter issued a statement

Tuesday expressing alarm about Japan's expanded whale hunt, saying

his country was working with other nations to address provisions in

the international convention on whaling regulations that make

scientific whaling legal but " are out of step with modern

conservation approaches. "

 

" Hunting whales is like hunting tigers (or) gorillas. New Zealanders

regard it as unjustifiable, " Carter said.

 

The current fleet of six ships left the western port of Shimonoseki

led by the 8,030 ton Nisshin Maru, and is to return in mid-April.

 

Tokyo has repeatedly failed to muster the three-fourths majority of

International Whaling Commission member nations needed to overturn

the commercial whaling ban. Each year, Japan also kills another 210

whales — 100 minke whales, 50 Bryde's whales, 50 sei whales and 10

sperm whales — during a similar research expedition in the

northwestern Pacific.

 

Norway is the only country that hunts whales for profit. Iceland,

like Japan, kills them for research in hunts sanctioned by the

International Whaling Commission. The United States and other

nations opposed to whaling have said there is no scientific basis

for the research.