- TOKYO (AP) -- A Japanese
whaling fleet left port on Friday on an annual expedition to the Antarctic
to hunt about 400 whales under a controversial government-backed research
programme.
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- The hunts, sanctioned by the International Whaling Commission,
have been criticised as commercial whaling in disguise by environmental
groups and anti-whaling nations, including the United States.
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- Five whaling ships led by the 7 38-ton Nisshinmaru left
the southern port of Shimonoseki with a crew of 200 for the 17th Antarctic
expedition since Japan started the programme in 1987.
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- The fleet will catch up to 440 minke whales, a species
that Japan argues has sufficient numbers to sustain limited commercial
hunts.
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- Data from the hunt will be used in whale population and
migration studies to build a case for "resuming use of this natural
resource", said a statement from the Institute of Cetacean Research,
the government-affiliated centre in charge of the programme.
-
- The expedition will return next April.
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- The IWC banned commercial whaling in 1986 to protect
the endangered mammals, but approved restricted hauls for Japan's $37 million
research programme a year later.
-
- Critics say there's no clear evidence whale stocks have
recovered, and accuse Japan of engaging in covert commercial whaling. Most
meat from research whales is eventually sold to restaurants to help cover
the programme's costs.
-
- "The thrust of this so-called research is to pave
the way to a return to profitable commercial whaling," said Junko
Sakurai of Greenpeace Japan.
-
- Japan is one of the world's largest consumers of whale
meat, considered a delicacy here.
-
- Its long-standing campaign to convince the IWC to lift
its commercial whaling ban suffered a setback at the group's annual meeting
in June.
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- During the four-day Berlin meeting, a majority of the
50-member commission blocked a Japanese request to hunt 150 minke whales
and 150 Bryde's whales a year in the North Pacific, and voted to establish
a panel to look at improving whale protection.
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- Frustrated officials in Tokyo threatened to withdraw
from the IWC or hold back financial contributions.
-
- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi later said his country
would work through the commission to achieve greater understanding of its
position. His allies include Norway, which rejected the 1987 commercial
whaling ban under IWC rules.
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