Japanese Whaling Fleet Return to Port

April 2008. The Nisshin Maru, the Japanese whaling ship, has arrived in back in Japan after five months at sea, having killed around 551 whales, some 50 percent of the planned number from the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
Although the number of whales taken was just over half the number the whalers had hoped, it is 100 whales more than the whalers took just three years ago.

The whale hunt was disrupted for 15 days during the height of the southern summer when the Greenpeace ship, the Esperanza chased the Nisshin Maru across 4,300 miles of the whale sanctuary, shutting down the whole whaling operation for the entirety of the epic chase. The hunt was further disrupted by the Farley Mowat, flagship of the Seashepherd Conservation Society.

Fin Whales Targeted
As well as Minke whales, the whalers also intending killing endangered fin and humpback whales. However the humpback hunt was cancelled after fierce protests from around the world.

In recent years, the Japanese Fisheries Agency has been telling the world that there had been a 'rapid increase' in the number of fin whales in the southern ocean and this justified the killing of 50 of the world's second largest whale.

Despite spending 3 months of the year scouring the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, the 6 ships of the whaling fleet didn't see a single one of the 'plentiful' fin whales.

IWC Meeting
The battle to defend the whales now switches to Santiago in Chile where the next meeting of the International Whaling Commission will be held. Japan will again try to overturn decades of whale conservation and enforce a return to the destructive days of commercial whaling in the southern ocean.

In a whale sanctuary, the only acceptable number of whales to be killed is zero. If the Japanese are serious about whale research – rather than a commercial hunt disguised as research – they should return to the Southern Ocean next year with cameras, not harpoons.

We think Canon cameras, the Japanese company famous for its work to promote wildlife and help endangered species – should be the first ones to endorse that concept. Please write to their CEO, Fujio Mitarai, and ask that he join the efforts to make this whaling season the last.