Japan Resumes Whales Poaching Program, Whaling Fleet Leaves for Antarctic

A Japanese whaling fleet left for Antarctic on Tuesday for the much-criticised hunting of whales. Hawaii News Now reports that whales will be hunted for the first time since the International Court of Justice ruled that poaching should stop. On March 31 2014, the ICJ declared Japan’s whaling program to be commercial and illegal, and ordered to cease it immediately.

“Two whaling ships departed from Shimonoseki with a Fisheries Agency patrol boat this morning, while the factory ship also left another port to form a fleet,” an agency official said.

According to Ameri Publications, the country submitted its final plan to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) after the commission’s scientific committee said earlier this year that Japan wasn’t able to give any good explanation for its argument that the mammals needed to be killed for scientific research.

Conservation group Sea Shepherd Global condemned Japan’s plans to return to the Southern Ocean to slaughter whales this austral summer.

“The pristine waters of the Southern Ocean are once again under threat from poachers,” said CEO of Sea Shepherd Global, Captain Alex Cornelissen. “We would like to remind the Japanese government that the whales of the Southern Ocean are protected by international law, by Australian law and by Sea Shepherd. As such, any violation of the sanctity of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary or the Australian Whale Sanctuary will be regarded as a criminal act.”

While Japan still maintains that the whale hunt is necessary for scientific research, the U.N. disagrees and says that it is rather a “commercial hunt” for minke whales and 333 are set to be slaughtered, My Tech Bits reported.