506 whales are killed as crippled fleet cuts short annual hunt

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Japan’s crippled whaling fleet arrived back in Tokyo yesterday with more than 500 minke whales after an expedition to the Antarctic that resulted in violent clashes with environmentalists, censure from foreign governments and a fire that killed a crew member. Accompanied by ten escort ships, the flagship Nisshin Maru docked at Oi Wharf with 508 of the 945 whales that it had set out to catch. The annual whale hunt is conducted in the name of scientific research but environmentalists insist that this is a thin pretext for commercial whaling, which has been banned under an international agreement since 1986. This year’s expedition came to an abrupt end five weeks ago. A protest boat owned by Greenpeace, the environmental organisation, which had been trying to block the whalers, offered to tow the stricken ship to safety but the Japanese insisted that they could deal with the accident unassisted. Earlier the Nisshin Maru

and its six auxiliary vessels had been forced to suspend the hunt after ships owned by Sea Shepherd, the radical conservation group, caught up with them and hurled acid stink bombs on to their decks. Three days later the Sea Shepherd vessel Robert Hunter and the Kaiko Maru collided in an incident for which each side blamed the other. Then came the fire in which Kazutaka Makita, a 27-year old sailor, died, apparently from smoke inhalation. The fire took place in the Ross Sea, 60 miles (95km) from a large colony of penguins. Foreign leaders, including Helen Clark, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, urged the Japanese to leave the area immediately to avoid the risk of a leak from the 8,000-tonne Kaiko Maru’s 1.3 million litres of fuel oil. The fire, as well as being a crippling blow to its plan to hunt whales, represents a huge public relations

disaster for the whaling operation. Greenpeace issued a statement yesterday claiming that the “research” element of the Nisshin Maru’s hunting activities was a wasteful sham. “It is not only the Japanese Government’s whaling ship that has been seriously damaged this hunting season, so has the credibility of the whaling programme with this review,” Junichi Sato, a Greenpeace spokesman in Japan, said. “The Japanese people have spent 18 years and millions of yen funding a so-called research programme that has produced nothing of substance.” The group has demanded that the Nisshin Maru be retired permanently, but a spokesman for Japan’s fisheries agency did not rule out the possibility of the ship returning to Antarctica this year or the next. “Everything depends on the results of our inspections of the ship,” he said. “But the fact that it returned all the way to Japan on its own suggests there aren’t major machinery

problems.” Have your say It is a shame that such a civilized nation as the Japanese would still keep mum in the 21st century in face of such brutalities of their government organizations and firms towards poor endangered species like whales and dolphins. Ebrahim, Ardebil, IranPeter H

 

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, peter VV <swpgh01 wrote:

>

> Japan's crippled whaling fleet arrived back in Tokyo yesterday with

more than 500 minke whales after an expedition to the Antarctic that

resulted in violent clashes with environmentalists, censure from

foreign governments and a fire that killed a crew member.

> Accompanied by ten escort ships, the flagship Nisshin Maru docked

at Oi Wharf with 508 of the 945 whales that it had set out to catch.

The annual whale hunt is conducted in the name of scientific research

but environmentalists insist that this is a thin pretext for

commercial whaling, which has been banned under an international

agreement since 1986.

> This year's expedition came to an abrupt end five weeks ago. A

protest boat owned by Greenpeace, the environmental organisation,

which had been trying to block the whalers, offered to tow the

stricken ship to safety but the Japanese insisted that they could

deal with the accident unassisted.

> Earlier the Nisshin Maru and its six auxiliary vessels had been

forced to suspend the hunt after ships owned by Sea Shepherd, the

radical conservation group, caught up with them and hurled acid stink

bombs on to their decks.

> Three days later the Sea Shepherd vessel Robert Hunter and the

Kaiko Maru collided in an incident for which each side blamed the

other. Then came the fire in which Kazutaka Makita, a 27-year old

sailor, died, apparently from smoke inhalation.

> The fire took place in the Ross Sea, 60 miles (95km) from a large

colony of penguins.

> Foreign leaders, including Helen Clark, the Prime Minister of New

Zealand, urged the Japanese to leave the area immediately to avoid

the risk of a leak from the 8,000-tonne Kaiko Maru's 1.3 million

litres of fuel oil.

> The fire, as well as being a crippling blow to its plan to hunt

whales, represents a huge public relations disaster for the whaling

operation. Greenpeace issued a statement yesterday claiming that

the " research " element of the Nisshin Maru's hunting activities was a

wasteful sham.

> " It is not only the Japanese Government's whaling ship that has

been seriously damaged this hunting season, so has the credibility of

the whaling programme with this review, " Junichi Sato, a Greenpeace

spokesman in Japan, said. " The Japanese people have spent 18 years

and millions of yen funding a so-called research programme that has

produced nothing of substance. "

> The group has demanded that the Nisshin Maru be retired

permanently, but a spokesman for Japan's fisheries agency did not

rule out the possibility of the ship returning to Antarctica this

year or the next.

> " Everything depends on the results of our inspections of the

ship, " he said. " But the fact that it returned all the way to Japan

on its own suggests there aren't major machinery problems. "

>

>

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whales are killed as crippled fleet cuts short annual hunt " ;

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>

> It is a shame that such a civilized nation as the Japanese

would still keep mum in the 21st century in face of such brutalities

of their government organizations and firms towards poor endangered

species like whales and dolphins.

>

> Ebrahim, Ardebil, Iran

>

>

>

>

>

> Peter H

>

>

>

>

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