A minke whale floats between small ice floes in the Antarctic Ocean.
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A Japanese whaling ship leaves the port of Shimonoseki in Yamaguchi prefecture, western Japan on December 1, 2015, to resume whale hunting in the Antarctic.
Japan says its whaling programme is for scientific research – one of the exceptions in which whaling is allowed under worldwide rules.
Tokyo had cancelled the bulk of its whaling for the 2014-15 season following a ruling from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in March 2014 that found its original Antarctic whaling programme was illegal.
Japan says deadly sampling is indispensable to acquire knowledge on the maturing ages of whales. Environmental activist group Sea Shepherd warned Japan on Sunday against resuming whale hunts in the Antarctic, urging the Australian government to intervene. The moratorium was agreed to by Japan but has continued whaling underneath the scientific research exemption.
“There’s nothing as happy as this day”, Nakao told the fleet’s crew at a ceremony prior to their departure.
Beneath Tokyo’s revised proposal, it plans to catch as much as 333 minke whales, about one-third of what it used to kill, annually over the subsequent 12 years, the Fisheries Company and the Overseas Ministry stated in a joint assertion Monday. Your choice to restart was announced only days before the sailing of Tuesday.
If diplomatic efforts fail, Australia might send its own ship to follow the Japanese fleet as it enters the waters considered to be a whale sanctuary, said Australia’s attorney general George Brandis, according to The Guardian.
The International Whaling Commission (IWC), which regulates the industry, agreed a pause – commonly now known as the moratorium – on whaling, to begin from the 1985/6 season.
“We do not accept in any way, shape or form the concept of killing whales for so-called “scientific research”, Australian environment minister Greg Hunt said in a statement.
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Another whaling countries, for example Norway, continue having just lodged formal objections. While indigenous groups that whale are permitted under an “Aboriginal subsistence” exemption.
