- Aug 10, 2001
- 10,420
- 2
- 0
APRIL 03, 08:19 ET
TOKYO (AP) ? A Japanese whaling fleet was returning home Wednesday carrying 440 minke whales killed during a six-month scientific expedition in Antarctic waters, fishing officials said.
The fleet's five vessels were scheduled to enter their home ports in southern Japan early Thursday, said Takaaki Sakamoto, a spokesman at Japan's Fisheries Agency.
Though the International Whaling Commission banned commercial whaling in 1986 to protect the endangered mammals, Japan has been organizing whaling expeditions for scientific purposes since 1987 under a program authorized by the IWC.
The Japanese government says that the expeditions are intended to gauge whales' migration patterns, population trends and diet. Opponents say that the program is commercial whaling in disguise, because after the research the whale meat is sold to wholesalers, and most of it ends up in restaurants.
Japan has been lobbying hard to get the ban on commercial whaling lifted, and is expected to make another push at a IWC meeting scheduled this year in the southwestern Japanese port of Shimonoseki.
The research whaling program costs Japan about $37 million a year, part of which is paid for by sales of the meat, the government says.
TOKYO (AP) ? A Japanese whaling fleet was returning home Wednesday carrying 440 minke whales killed during a six-month scientific expedition in Antarctic waters, fishing officials said.
The fleet's five vessels were scheduled to enter their home ports in southern Japan early Thursday, said Takaaki Sakamoto, a spokesman at Japan's Fisheries Agency.
Though the International Whaling Commission banned commercial whaling in 1986 to protect the endangered mammals, Japan has been organizing whaling expeditions for scientific purposes since 1987 under a program authorized by the IWC.
The Japanese government says that the expeditions are intended to gauge whales' migration patterns, population trends and diet. Opponents say that the program is commercial whaling in disguise, because after the research the whale meat is sold to wholesalers, and most of it ends up in restaurants.
Japan has been lobbying hard to get the ban on commercial whaling lifted, and is expected to make another push at a IWC meeting scheduled this year in the southwestern Japanese port of Shimonoseki.
The research whaling program costs Japan about $37 million a year, part of which is paid for by sales of the meat, the government says.
Facebook
Twitter