ARTICLE: Antarctic is teeming with whales - hunters

[thomas]

Here's what Kyodo News reported today. What a relief to all aficionados of whale meat...

Antarctic is teeming with whales - hunters

Wednesday, April 11, 2001 at 19:00 JST

KITAKYUSHU — Two Japanese whaling ships commissioned by the Fisheries Agency to survey and capture minke whales in Antarctic waters returned home to Shimonoseki port in southwestern Japan on Wednesday morning.

The ships are part of a fleet of five that left the port in Yamaguchi Prefecture last November and captured 440 minke whales for research purposes.

They reported sighting a total of 10,452 whales during the expedition, including 5,393 minke whales.

One of the three other ships in the fleet returned to Hiroshima port on Monday.

The remaining two are expected to arrive at Ishinomaki port in Miyagi Prefecture on Wednesday and Thursday.

No protest activities from anti-whaling groups have been reported during the survey-and-hunt mission, conducted from Dec 11 through March 19.

Japan has regularly conducted research whaling after giving up commercial whaling in the 1987-1988 hunting season in line with the moratorium adopted by the International Whaling Commission in 1982.

Countries against whaling have criticized the Japanese program, saying it is merely a front for continued commercial whaling.

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