http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090413/wl_asia_afp/japanwhaling;_ylt=AmJd50RPOFCujXwE6BjIj5V4hMgF
Japan’s Antarctic whale catch
TOKYO april 09 Japan’s controversial whaling fleet returns to port this week with a smaller-than-expected haul, blaming harassment from militant activists in the Antarctic, the fisheries agency said.On its five-month mission, the six-ship flotilla caught 680 whales including 679 minke and just one fin whale — well below a planned total haul of between 765 and 935 of the giant mammals, the agency said.”It was mainly because of the harassment by the Sea Shepherds,” said Shigeki Takaya, an official with the agency’s whaling division.

The environmental group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society harassed the Japanese ships for 16 days, he said.Takaya told AFP a Sea Shepherd ship rammed into Japanese vessels and its crew threw ropes and bottles filled with chemicals.Three of the six ships returned to the western port of Shimonoseki Monday, where television footage showed the coast guard inspecting damage from the high-seas clashes.

Japan kills whales using a loophole in a 1986 whaling moratorium that allows “lethal research”, despite vehement protests led by Australia.In practice, most of the meat from such whaling ends up on Japanese dinner tables. Australia and other anti-whaling nations regularly accuse Tokyo of using research as a pretext for commercial hunting.Whale meat holds sentimental value for some Japanese baby-boomers and older people who ate it after the devastation of World War II.Most Japanese have seldom eaten whale since the moratorium, but Japan has been trying to give young people a taste for whale, which has also been marketed in curry and burgers.

Whale meeting condemns Japan hunt
The
International Whaling Commission’s annual meeting has passed a
resolution condemning Japan’s scientific hunting programme in the
Antarctic.
Japan
catches nearly 1,000 whales there each year in the name of
research.After an acrimonious debate, a large number of countries
refused to vote, saying the resolution was illegitimate.There was,
however, consensus support for a motion censuring environmental groups
which try to hinder Japan’s Antarctic programme.Both Greenpeace and the
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society have tried to block the programme in
recent years, culminating in a damaging collision between Japanese and
Sea Shepherd vessels in the recent Antarctic season for which each
party blames the other.It was just about the only sign of common ground
in a day marked by the entrenched positions and political posturing
which has bedevilled this organisation for years.

All at sea
Environmental organisations Greenpeace
and Sea Shepherd came under fire themselves in a resolution
co-ordinated by Japan and New Zealand.It was the only concrete sign so
far of the common ground which both sides said they were seeking before
the meeting convened.The resolution, which says that member governments
“do not condone, and in fact condemn, any actions that are a risk to
human life and property in relation to the activities of vessels at
sea,” passed by consensus.”We maintain that our protests are peaceful
and non-violent,” commented Shane Rattenbury of Greenpeace
International.”Greenpeace has 35 years of history of being non-violent;
but I’m sure the Japanese government will attempt to wave it in our
face and say ‘you shouldn’t be undertaking these protests’.”Sea
Shepherd’s record is rather different, having been implicated in
attacks on whaling vessels spanning more than two decades.It is notable
that while Greenpeace is allowed into the meeting here, Sea Shepherd is
not.Parts of the resolution can also be interpreted as a rebuke to
Japan, particularly an injunction to “have regard to protecting… the
fragile Antarctic environment.”The meeting looked like running late
into its penultimate evening, with several major issues unresolved.

Japanese begin annual whale hunt
Six
Japanese whaling ships have set sail for their annual hunt in the south
Atlantic.Japan’s fisheries agency says the fleet has a target of 850
minke whales and 10 fin whales.
Environmentalists
have condemned the hunt in the southern ocean whale sanctuary, which
will last for several months.Japan hunts whales every year, and is
strongly opposed to a ban on commercial whaling imposed two decades
ago.It says it hunts whales so that its scientists can measure the size
of the populations and their feeding and breeding habits.The meat from
the catch is sold and the proceeds used to pay for the research
programme.

Controversial issue
But environmentalists reject
the idea that this is a scientific study. They say politicians and
bureaucrats allow the hunt because of intense lobbying by a small but
vocal minority.They quote opinion polls suggesting that the majority of
Japanese people rarely or never eat whale meat and do not support
whaling in the southern ocean.The reality is that many Japanese you
talk to do not understand what all the fuss is about.Japan says the
fleet will try to catch several hundred minke whales, which are quite
small. The stocks, it says, are relatively plentiful.It will also try
to kill 10 fin whales, which are larger and rarer.The catches are
authorised by the International Whaling Commission.Japan has reason to
be bolder this year. At last year’s IWC meeting, it persuaded a
majority of other nations to make a symbolic show of support for an
eventual lifting of the ban on commercial whaling.And last month
another of its allies, Iceland, decided to resume commercial whaling
for the first time in seven years.

Meat from whales caught under Japan’s “research” programme is so
abundant that it is being sold as pet food, according to a UK
conservation group.

Thousands of tonnes of
whale meat has been stockpiled as more animals are killed each year,
says the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS).

Dead whale left outside embassy
A huge beached whale has been dumped outside the Japanese embassy in Berlin. in a Greenpeace anti-whaling protest.
The
controversial environmental activists hauled the fin whale to Berlin
from the Baltic coast after finding it beached on a sandbank.
The dead whale measured 17 metres (56 ft) long and weighed 20 tons.
Activists
are trying to demonstrate that there is no need to kill the mammals for
research – as Japan does – because cadavers can be found.
Japan is expected to kill 935 minke whales in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary during the first four months of 2006.
The
International Whaling Commission imposed a moratorium on commercial
whaling in 1986, but Japan resumed whale hunting the following year.
Critics dispute Japan’s claim to be whaling for scientific purposes, saying whale meat often ends up on restaurant tables.
A
Greenpeace banner in Berlin read: “Science doesn’t need harpoons! Stop
the senseless whaling!”The fin whale in Berlin – between 10 and 20
years old – is believed to have got lost in the Baltic while looking
for herring. Its normal habitat is the North Atlantic.
The whale is due to be taken to Stralsund on the coast for scientific examination after the Greenpeace protest

GREENPEACE…..DEFENDING THE WHALES
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/
Southern
Ocean, International – Our two ships, the Esperanza and the Arctic
Sunrise, today confronted the Fisheries Agency of Japan whaling fleet
and called on it to “Leave the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary
immediately.” In inflatables carrying banners which read “defend the
whales” and “stop the whaling,” crew from the two ships declared their
intention to stop the hunt
While our ships were relaying their
message, two ‘catcher ships’ arrived on the scene with dead minke
whales hung from their hulls, ready to be transferred to the fleet’s
factory ship, the Nisshin Maru.
However, the Esperanza was blocking
access to the Nisshin Maru’s stern ramp and one ‘catcher’ tried to push
the Esperanza out of the way twice. The Esperanza pulled back for the
crew’s safety and no casualties are reported.

Update, December 22:
Inflatables boats from the Esperanza and the Arctic Sunrise spent 9
hours in the freezing Antarctic whalers today saving whales.
Activists
continually ran in front ot the explosive harpoon canon on board the
“catcher ships.”  They  successfully blocked clear shots with their
presence, and by the use of high-powered water canons to spray a thick
fan of water,  obscuring the line of sight of the harpoons.  Many
whales were thus given a chance to escape.
One chase lasted for
nearly two and half hours until eventually the whaler, the Yushin Maru,
managed get a clear shot and despatched a deadly grenade-tipped harpoon
into a minke whale.
8 minke whales were killed as part of the
fleet’s plan to take some 935 minke whales and 10 endangered fin whales
for their so-called scientific research programme.
“This whale hunt
is unnecessary, unjustified, and unwanted,” said Expedition leader
Shane Rattenbury. In a radio call to the whaling vessels, from the
bridge of the Arctic Sunrise, Yuko Hirono, of Greenpeace Japan called
upon the whalers to stop killing whales “and leave the internationally
recognised Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.”