Tag Archives: Japanese whaling fleet
Japanese Whaling Fleet Reaches Quota
Japan’s whaling fleet has returned home from the Southern Ocean after a successful 143-day investigation “without being interfered with by the anti-whaling group.” Of the 333 whales killed, 152 were males and 181 were females. A preliminary analysis of pregnancy rate suggests healthy fertility rates, says the Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research. The animals’ earwax plugs and eye lens were used to determine age, blubber was used to determine nutritional status, gonads were used to obtain breeding information and digestive system contents used to examine prey species. >click to read<21:34
Sea Shepherd ships leave to battle Japanese whaling fleet with ropes and stink bombs
Two ships have left Australia bound for the freezing Southern Ocean to confront the Japanese whaling fleet in an annual high-seas battle, environmental activist group Sea Shepherd said Monday. The organisation’s flagship Steve Irwin departed for Antarctic waters along with fast new patrol vessel Ocean Warrior, built with financial support from the Dutch, British and Swedish lotteries. It has a powerful water cannon and is capable of outrunning the whalers, which an official at Japan’s Fisheries Agency said would be protected by a fleet of patrol boats. “Sea Shepherd has engaged in repeated acts of sabotage over the years. Those actions threaten the lives of Japanese crew members and we cannot tolerate it,” said the official, who declined to give his name. Japan has previously sought court action to halt the anti-whaling campaigns, saying the activists ram their ships, snare propellers with ropes and harass crew with paint and stink bombs. Read the rest here 17:17
