Japanese fleet sets out to double whale catch

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Posted on: Tuesday, 8 November 2005, 05:39 CST

 

Japanese fleet sets out to double whale catch

 

TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese whaling fleet set out for

the Antarctic on Tuesday on its first hunt after the

country doubled its target catch -- a move condemned

by anti-whaling nations.

 

The six-ship fleet set off from the port of

Shimonoseki in western Japan, aiming to catch about

850 minke whales, almost double the previous annual

target of 440, and to add 10 fin whales to what Japan

calls its scientific whaling program, a spokeswoman

for the Institute of Cetacean Research said.

 

Tokyo maintains that whale meat, though a rarity on

menus now, is an important part of its culinary

tradition. Anti-whaling nations and environmental

groups condemn as cruel and unnecessary the practice

of hunting the giant marine mammals, some of which are

endangered.

 

Japan abandoned commercial whaling in 1986 in line

with an international moratorium and began what it

calls its research program the following year.

 

The meat ends up on store shelves and the tables of

gourmet restaurants, prompting criticism from

environmental groups.

 

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) passed a

non-binding resolution at a meeting in June that urged

Japan to scrap research whaling altogether.

 

Japan had been pushing at the same meeting to

re-establish commercial whaling, and it has threatened

to withdraw from the IWC and form a new regulatory

body with other whaling nations, such as Norway, the

only country that permits commercial whaling.

 

Greenpeace dismissed the Japanese government's view

that whales are contributing to the collapse in fish

stocks.

 

" Ninety-nine percent of the catch will be Southern

Ocean minke whales, which eat krill, not fish, " John

Frizell of Greenpeace International said in a news

release.

 

Japan's whaling ships are due back in port in April.

 

Source: REUTERS